Jurors returned a not guilty verdict on all charges on Friday in the trial of a Baltimore high school student charged with the homicide of a classmate.

Donte Crawford, 18 years old, was charged as an adult with first- and second-degree murder and carrying a dangerous weapon in connection with the stabbing of a classmate at Renaissance Academy on Nov. 24. Ananias Jolley, 17 years old, died at Shock Trauma almost a month after the stabbing.

Witnesses said that fight that led to a stabbing in a biology lab started quickly and ended in seconds.

Crawford took the stand in his own defense, trying to explain to jurors what happened. In closing arguments, prosecutor Bethany Durand claimed Crawford brought a pocket knife to school on a mission to harm another student. Durand said, "The defendant in this case did not use self-defense. He acted on his own intention to kill. He acted on his intention to attack,".

Defense attorney Jonas Needleman said that Crawford became frustrated when he could not get a transfer from the school after complaining about being bullied, beaten up and intimidated.

Crawford's attorney said that his client had been bullied by the victim. Both sides in the case agreed that Crawford stabbed Jolley, but the jury believed that Crawford did not intend to kill Jolley.

Needleman said , "This was not something he intended to do. This is not something he wanted to do. Mr. Crawford reacted in self-defense to a person he knew was violent against him,".

The defense also called this an accident, a tragedy created by two boys fighting in a class.

The prosecution did not deny that Crawford may have been picked on, but said testimony in court pointed out that Jolley only called him names. The prosecutor ended her argument by saying, "Mr. Jolley may have been a threat to Mr. Crawford, but in the end, Mr. Crawford was a threat to Mr. Jolley."

By Prakriti Neogi