It was what Dereck Jenks called "a free-for-all." What began as a grudge fight between two teens ended with friends of both participants trading blows.
Jenks, 17, was testifying in the trial of his high school friend, Jonathon Rosario, 19, who is accused of stabbing Kevin Hill to death in December 2012.
"Jon was covered and he was on top of him and he was connecting all in the head," Jenks testified as he demonstrated -- with Rosario's attorney Alex Scharff playing the part of his client -- how the two were on the ground fighting.
He said that though he and Rosario armed themselves with knives before going to the fight, he never saw his friend stab Hill. But on cross examination, he said Rosario admitted that he had stabbed Hill.
As that fight ended, he testified, another broke out.
"Next thing we know is everyone is just hitting each other," Jenks testified. "It was a free-for-all with everybody hitting everybody. All we heard out of nowhere was (slaps hands together) and we turned around and Kevin was lying on the ground and we heard somebody scream ‘somebody snuffed him.'"
Hill was rushed to the hospital by friends where he later died from a single stab wound to the chest.
During opening arguments in the trial, Scharff said this was a self-defense case -- not murder.
A murder conviction could mean a maximum sentence of life in prison for Rosario.
Closing arguments are expected Thursday in Judge Maria Teresa Herr's 186th District Court.