A grand jury has downgraded charges against the Bronx teen accused of stabbing a classmate to death outside their school last month, prosecutors say.
Noel Estevez was indicted on second-degree manslaughter charges Monday, according to the Bronx district attorney's office.
The 14-year-old was initially charged as an adult with murder and manslaughter in the fatal stabbing of 14-year-old classmate Timothy Crump outside Joseph Wade Middle School on June 18. Estevez will now be tried as a juvenile, and his case will be heard in family court, prosecutors say.
Police said Estevez admitted stabbing Crump after a fight over an iPhone, and after Crump allegedly threatened, harassed and bullied Estevez for months.
"There was a history of bullying by the deceased and friends of his," defense attorney Eric Poulos said in late June. "My client and his mother sought various ways, through the school system, through the police department, to stop this. No one would help."
Poulos said it was his first time back to class in months after trying to transfer schools to avoid his alleged tormentors.
Law enforcement sources said Estevez's father had asked that his son get a safety transfer on the night before the stabbing.
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"They were after him for three months," Poulos said. "They couldn't find him because he stayed behind closed doors. He came out of closed doors and they sicced on him."
Mayor de Blasio has called for an investigation into whether Crump's death could have been prevented.
