The man who was arrested in a deadly stabbing outside a Brooklyn food market claimed the incident was in self-defense, accusing the victim of attempting to steal his phone, the suspect’s defense attorney said Saturday.
Jose Tucubal Morales, 25, arrived at his arraignment at Brooklyn Criminal Court with a bandage covering his right hand. Prosecutors say he fatally stabbed David Martinez, 36, and slashed a second 36-year-old man after getting into a dispute with them.
The three men were standing outside the store in Sunset Park drinking beer just before 5 a.m. when trouble began. According to prosecutors, Morales accused the pair of recording him with a cell phone, then promptly broke the phone. Morales then called his brother, who came over and handed him a knife, with which he attacked his two rivals, prosecutors said.
However, Morales’ attorney, Andrew Friedman, said, “The defense maintains very strongly that my client was acting in self-defense. That these two individuals were trying to rob him of my client’s phone. It was two-against-one. My client, who is 25 years old, has never been in trouble before.”
Following his arraignment, Morales was ordered held without bail by Judge Herbert Moses, denying Friedman’s request for bail to be set.
“We have a situation where it’s 5 o’clock in the morning,” Friedman said. “My client is confronted by two strangers who are wishing to rob him. I know the video will tell — and I’m not in receipt of those obviously yet — but my client’s statement, his representation to me certainly does have the ring of truth,” the attorney said.
Martinez was stabbed twice in the back and once in the chest outside City Fresh Market, a 24-hour grocery store on Sixth Ave. near 50th St., around 4:55 a.m. Thursday, cops said. The wounded victim was slashed in the face.
Medics rushed both victims to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where Martinez died. The victim wounded in the face is expected to survive.
A blood trail led police to Morales’ home nearby, where he was arrested with visible cuts to his right hand and fingers, prosecutors said.
He was arrested Friday and charged with murder, attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon, according to police.
Martinez lived about three blocks from the grocery store where the stabbing occurred, and just around the corner from his alleged killer, cops said.
