NEW YORK - A bench trial begins Friday for the teen charged in the fatal stabbing of a classmate in the Bronx.
Abel Cedeno is accused of attacking Matthew McCree and another student at the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife two years ago.
McCree, 15, died of his injuries.
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Cedeno's lawyer Robert Feldman claims his client was bullied, and his actions were a fight or flight response.
"It's involuntary, its a reflexive action. You either run or you fight. And after being bullied and pummeled and tortured and picked on for being a perceived homosexual, which he was, I mean he came out after the arrest, he decided to fight," Feldman said.
Cedeno is charged with manslaughter.
He will testify in the trial.