ITHACA, N.Y. — During an interrogation video shown in court Friday and Monday, defendant Nagee Green told investigators that he did have a knife in his hand during the fatal brawl at Cornell University last August that left one Ithaca College student dead and another stabbed three times in the back.
But Green – who is facing more than 20 years in prison if convicted of murder – told investigators, “I don’t remember using the knife.”
Green has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and second-degree assault. He’s accused of fatally stabbing Anthony Nazaire to death and stabbing Raheim Williams three times in the back.
Opening statements began last Monday at the Tompkins County courthouse and have included testimony from witnesses, officers, and Williams, along with videos of the brawl.
Related – Cornell murder trial: Prosecution says murder was no accident but defense says dots don’t connect
Friday afternoon and Monday morning were mostly focused on playing a video of Green’s interview with New York State Police Investigator Richard Haas and Ithaca Police Investigator Kevin McKenna.
In January, The Ithaca Voice published a 73-page transcript of the interview. It’s embedded below.
The trial continued Monday afternoon with McKenna still on the stand.
What’s in the transcript? Did he confess or not?
(Note: These points were previously published in The Ithaca Voice. You can read the story in its entirety here.)
Here are the top four important or interesting aspects from the interview transcript:
- Why did he have a knife?
Green states that the fight was caused after some people, male and female got into an argument that led to an all-out fight.
Investigator: So you were fighting with someone but you don’t know who it was. Why did you pull the knife?
Green: Because that group of people said they were not from here so I didn’t know what they were capable of…It means they can have a weapon on them or not. It can mean a lot of things. It could mean that they’re just bragging because they are tougher than us because they are not from here, things like that.
2. Did anybody else have a knife that night?
Green: I didn’t see anybody else with a knife, no.
Later in the interview:
Green: I wasn’t worried about anybody else and what they had. People could have had knives, they could have, like I don’t know.
3. How did the stabbing happen exactly?
Green said he was pushed to the ground while holding a knife, presumably by Williams, and was hit by Nazaire.
Investigator: At what point did you stab that person? That’s what we need to know.
Green: I didn’t. Like I said, I didn’t stab anybody.
Investigator: Well, how do you suggest that both of these guys got stabbed?
Green: Um, the only person that I would think of accidentally stabbing was the one person who got stabbed multiple times when I tried to get up (Williams). The other guy (Nazaire) I don’t know how he got stabbed.
Later in the interview:
Green: Like I said, they both fell on me. Maybe he (Nazaire) fell on the knife.
Later in the interview:
Green: Like I said I’m going to keep saying, I honestly don’t remember stabbing Anthony. That I will not admit to.
4. What happened to the clothes Green was wearing the night of the homicide?
Investigator: So it’s safe to say that all the clothing from the night is gone?
Green: Mmm, yeah. Those clothes I just threw away just to throw them away.
Investigator: You were just, I’m being blunt about it, you were trying to cover up the fact that something might be on there. Am I correct?
Green: No because there wasn’t anything on them.
Investigator: Well, then why did you throw them out? That’s what I’m getting at.
Green: Because after I found out about the talk of the town that my name got involved in everything, I was just, I didn’t want my clothes anymore. There was nothing on there I just didn’t want my clothes popping up in any cameras or anything.
Editor’s Note: Some readers may find that the descriptions in the embedded document are disturbing. In some instances, the documents are explicit about Nazaire’s stabbing death.
Featured photo by Kelsey O’Connor/The Ithaca Voice
Nagee Green’s interview with police by Jolene Almendarez on Scribd