FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Brooklyn Man Convicted of Fatally Stabbing Another Man Following Dispute
Ran Home after Argument in Restaurant, Stabbed Victim in Back with a Knife
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a 21-year-old man from Flatbush, Brooklyn has been convicted of first-degree manslaughter for fatally stabbing a 26-year-old man in the back following a dispute inside a restaurant. The defendant then ran to his apartment, grabbed a knife and attacked the victim from behind as he walked down the street outside his home.
District Attorney Thompson said, “This defendant senselessly took a life over a silly argument. He made a terrible decision and will now spend many years behind bars because of that.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Kadeem Wilkinson, 21, of 2810 Foster Avenue in Flatbush, Brooklyn. He was convicted today of first-degree manslaughter following a jury trial before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Guy Mangano. The defendant faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison when he is sentenced on April 8, 2016.
The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, on December 6, 2013, the defendant, his girlfriend and a stranger, Dwight Brathwaite, 26, were inside Chicken Express at 1341 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. After leaving the restaurant, the defendant returned and confronted Brathwaite about flirting with his girlfriend moments earlier. An argument ensued and it escalated into an altercation outside the restaurant.
The defendant then ran to his nearby home, grabbed a knife, came from behind the victim, who was walking toward his house, the evidence showed, and stabbed him in the back at about 12:45 a.m., outside of 531 East 26th Street.
Video surveillance captured the defendant running into his building and leaving shortly thereafter. Another video captured part of the stabbing incident, according to evidence presented at trial. The defendant’s girlfriend testified that the defendant admitted to her that he had stabbed the victim in anger.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Olatokunbo Olaniyan of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Taub, Chief.
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