DELHI _ A New York City man is being held by police in New Jersey on a second-degree murder charge in connection with the stabbing death of a SUNY Delhi student.
Meanwhile, the Delaware County district attorney defended the actions of police and the grand jury after no indictments were returned against four suspects in the death of Tyshawn Bierria, 22, of Queens. Bierria died Thursday after being stabbed multiple times on campus in the early hours of April 27.
The latest suspect, Jose Antonio Lambert, 22, is being held on an arrest warrant issued by Delhi Town Justice Richard Gumo.
According to court officials, Gumo issued the warrant for Lambert's arrest Friday, but Lambert was already being held in jail on other charges.
Officials said they did not know where in New Jersey he was being held or the charges that led to his initial arrest.
Delaware County District Attorney Richard Northrup said extradition proceedings for Lambert are under way, adding he was told Lambert is not fighting extradition.
Joel Smith, SUNY Delhi spokesman, said Lambert has never been a student at the college.
Last week, police arrested four people in connection with the stabbing, one of whom is a State University College of Technology at Delhi student. On Monday, a Delaware County grand jury declined to indict the four, though it did issue a sealed indictment.
Northrup said, "I am legally obligated not to comment on a sealed indictment."
An indictment is sealed, he said, when a defendant has not yet been brought before a local court for arraignment.
The four men had been charged with first-degree gang assault, a class B felony, and one count of second-degree attempted murder, a class B felony, but they were all released after the grand jury issued no bills for a lack of evidence.
Northrup said neither the grand jury nor the police made mistakes in the analysis of the evidence.
"To the extent that the action of the grand jury is being viewed as a failure to indict any of these four young men is not entirely accurate," Northrup said.
"They did exactly what they are supposed to do," he said. "Fully and fairly hear the evidence, deliberate on it and vote.
"They heard testimony from dozens of witnesses and received other non-testimony evidence and then made their decisions, so the fact that they viewed the evidence differently than the police should not be interpreted as a shortcoming on either their part or that of law enforcement," Northrup continued.
A grand jury is comprised of 16 to 23 people, and at least 12 have to vote to indict, Northrup said.
The suspects who were not indicted Monday are: Jack Daniel Boampong, 19, of New York City and a SUNY Delhi student who was arrested Wednesday; William Dorsey Jr., 22, and Raymond Brightman, 21, who were arrested Tuesday; and Olanrewaju Ogunwuyi, 21, who was arrested late Monday.
The latter three men are from New York City and are not SUNY Delhi students.
Bierria was a second-year individual studies major with enough credits to graduate in May. He was injured during what appears to have been a brawl with several people at about 4:30 a.m. Sunday near Russell Hall, according to officials.
Pat Torney, Bierria's high school basketball coach, said he coached him for two years and knew him well.
"He was a quiet, humble kid," Torney said Tuesday. "He was certainly not a troublemaker. He always had a smile on his face and he was good-natured."
Torney said Bierria was very good-looking and was in great physical shape, but he wasn't the kind who was always after the girls.
"He just did his work," Torney said. "He had his whole life ahead of him. This is very, very sad."
Vince Danjou, a former SUNY Delhi student now attending RIT in Rochester, said he was a friend of Bierria's and had seen him briefly on the Delhi campus before he was killed.
"I was there that weekend, but I didn't hear that the stabbing had occurred until after I was back in Rochester," Danjou said. "I saw Tyshawn and spoke with him in passing."
Danjou said Bierria was "quiet and very reserved, but he was well-known and well-liked, and he was never involved with all the drug activity that goes on. He wasn't like that."
Smith said students filled with messages a giant banner put up in Farrell Hall, so a second banner was put up and both banners will be presented to Bierria's family after funeral services in Queens on Friday.
"Tyshawn's death was received hard by our campus," Smith said.
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Patricia Breakey can be reached at 746-2894 or at stardelhi@stny.rr.com.
