If it was a group / gang fight, it would be hard to work out who gave the fatal hit. It now makes sense why kids in gangs attack and all wear baggy white t-shirts!

Why can't the kid be charged with assault instead of murder or manslaughter?

I wonder how this guy beat all these charges not only did he beat the murder charge, but the paper leaves out the fact the two assaults he beat were also stabbings where one person was in critical condition and could have died as well. What was the jury thinking?

Didn't the suspect flee to Hanckensack right after the murder? How in the hell was he not guilty? DumbF****!!!!!!

'VERDICT IS THE BIGGER CRIME'
Slain Nick's family in new pain after seeing murder suspect freed

Thursday, November 15, 2007
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A 21-year-old who has spent the last 16 months in jail was found not guilty yesterday in the murder of a well-liked 19-year-old St. Peter's College student last year.

Emanuel Reyes had been charged with murder, aggravated manslaughter, reckless manslaughter and weapons offenses in the killing of Nicholas Matulic-Perhacs outside the Journal Square Transportation Center on the evening of June 11, 2006.

Tears of joy rolled down the cheeks of Reyes' mother, Maria Luna, and she held a hand to her chest as the verdict was read in the courtroom packed with the friends and family members of both the defendant and victim.

The verdict shocked Matulic-Perhacs' parents, who lashed out at the jurors afterward.

Reyes cried and hugged his attorney, Daniel Welsh, after the verdict was read and looked back at his mother seated in the courtroom benches. Welsh said Reyes was breathing so heavily that Welsh feared he would pass out.

Reyes had been in jail since surrendering to police the night after Matulic-Perhacs was killed. He was taken back to the Hudson County jail in Kearny after being acquitted and was expected to be processed and released last night.

Maya Matulic and Csongor Perhacs sat stoically as the verdict was read, but later couldn't contain their anger.

"He got away with murder and I hope the jurors can live with themselves if Reyes' name is in the newspapers again," said Matulic.

Reyes also faced two counts of aggravated assault in an earlier incident and the jury acquitted him of those counts as well.

"To acquit him of aggravated manslaughter or reckless manslaughter is a bigger crime than what happened to my son," said Perhacs.

Welsh said security video in the bus terminal showed Reyes walking with his girlfriend and others when someone in Matulic-Perhacs' group punched him in the back of the head, and others joined in kicking and punching him. There was a quick scuffle between the groups and Reyes ran out of the terminal with Matulic-Perhacs's group in pursuit, Welsh said.

The groups clashed again near the taxi stand on Kennedy Boulevard, where Matulic-Perhacs was fatally wounded, but the stabbing was not caught by the security camera.

"Both my client and Nicholas were not assaultive on the bus platform," Welsh said. "My guy was assaulted and Nick didn't do anything."

One of those with Matulic-Perhacs testified that the groups attacked each other in the bus terminal and said Reyes pulled out a knife there. But the video showed that wasn't true and Welsh said the testimony hurt the witness's credibility and the prosecution's case.

Bleeding profusely, Matulic-Perhacs stumbled to the nearby Port Authority Police Emergency Services garage and collapsed. Jersey City Police Sgt. Kelly Shesler testified that she put her finger in the wound and held the damaged artery against a bone in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

The officer testified that Matulic-Perhacs told her he was stabbed by someone known as "Eman" and that it was short for Emanuel. He said he and his friends knew him from hanging around the Square.

The Hudson Catholic High School graduate was pronounced dead at the Jersey City Medical Center about 11:30 p.m.

Defendant in Journal Square killing faces jury
by Michaelangelo Conte
Wednesday November 14, 2007, 10:41 AM


The jury has entered its second day of deliberations in the murder trial of Emanuel Reyes, who is accused of stabbing St. Peter's College student Nicholas Perhacs to death in Journal Square last year.

The day began when state Superior Court Judge Fred Theemling, sitting in Jersey City, answered questions about the specifics of the laws for murder, aggravated manslaughter and reckless manslaughter.


Numerous friends and family members of both the victim and the defendant are in the courtroom. Theemling cautioned those in attendance that any outbursts could be met with contempt of court charges.

At the time of the stabbing, in June 2006, police said they believed it resulted from a previous fight between Perhacs and Reyes.

Dealth penalty...

COLLEGE STUDENT KILLED IN SQUARE
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A St. Peter's College student was fatally stabbed in the chest Sunday night in front of the Journal Square Transportation Center, leaving a trail of blood as he stumbled through the facility before collapsing.

Nicholas M. Perhacs, 19, of Beach Street in the Jersey City Heights, was stabbed once in the upper chest about 8 p.m. while standing in front of the Jackie Robinson Statue on Kennedy Boulevard, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said yesterday.

He was pronounced dead at the Jersey City Medical Center at 11:30 p.m., DeFazio said.

Perhacs graduated from Hudson Catholic High School in 2004 while using the last name Matulic, school officials said. Police officials confirmed Perhacs had used the name Matulic.

Witnesses told police Emanuel Reyes, 20, of Summit Avenue in Jersey City, stabbed Perhacs, and police have issued a warrant for his arrest on the charge of murder, DeFazio said.

The stabbing likely stemmed from a previous fight between Perhacs and Reyes, DeFazio said, adding that Reyes ran after the incident and police are still looking for him.

After he was stabbed, Perhacs staggered up the steps and down the walkway behind the PATH building before collapsing near the Port Authority Police Emergency Services garage, at the rear of the main Hudson County College building, DeFazio said.

Yesterday, a spattered trail of blood was still visible on the paving stones in front of the Jackie Robinson statue.

Perhacs' family members told a reporter they were too distraught to comment yesterday.

Perhacs was an excellent football player and was a member of the team that went to the state playoffs in 2003, said Hudson Catholic High School Athletic Director Rob Stern.

"He was a great athlete, real fast runner, and he played bigger than he was," said Stern. "I was blessed, I had a beautiful baby girl born just the other day, and then I got a phone call about Nick this morning. It was just devastating to me. It's vicious, the world we live in. You hear things like this every day and then it hits you in the face."

Hudson Catholic Director of Admissions Terry Matthews called Perhacs a wonderful kid who was genuinely respectful and had leadership ability.

"It's an absolute shame," Matthews said. "He was a good student and his whole life was in front of him. He was a genuinely good kid."

Although Hudson Catholic's school year is ended, Matthews said counseling will be provided to students who want to talk about Perhacs' death. He said he'd been calling several of Perhacs' friends to tell them of the tragedy.

The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office is investigating Perhacs' murder with the help of the Port Authority Police Department and the Jersey City Police Department's Major Case Squad.

Anyone with information on the murder or on Reyes' whereabouts is asked to call county homicide investigators at (201) 915-1345.

=================