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WEST CHESTER — The trial of a Philadelphia woman accused of fatally stabbing a student at Lincoln University and wounding two others in response to a dispute involving her brother — another student there — is scheduled to begin Monday in Chester County Common Pleas Court.
Nydira Smith, 40, was arrested in February 2022 and charged with stabbing the three students, including the deceased, after a fight broke out in a dormitory at the university in Lower Oxford Township. Much of the melee that was involved was captured on video.
Jawine Evans, a 21-year-old student from Philadelphia approaching graduation from the historically Black university, was pronounced dead at the scene by first responders after having suffered a stab wound in the right side of his neck, according to police. He was found in a grassy area outside the dorm at the end of a trail of blood.
Two other men, identified as Eric Dickerson and Clifton Walker, both 22 and residents of the dorm where the incident occurred, were also stabbed — Dickerson in the upper right arm and Walker in the back. Both were treated at Christiana Hospital in Delaware the night of the incident and released.
Smith is charged with first-degree and third-degree murder, possessing an instrument of a crime, aggravated assault and other related charges. She has been held in Chester County Prison awaiting trial since her arrest.
The trial will be overseen by Judge Nicole Forzato. The prosecution is being led by Assistant District Attorneys Bridget Gallagher and Justin Roberts. Smith is represented by defense attorney Vince DiFabio of Tredyffrin.
District Attorney Deb Ryan called the homicide, “a parent’s worst nightmare” at the time. “This senseless and tragic incident is devastating to not only the families of the victims but the entire Lincoln University community — students, staff and parents — who believed their college campus was a safe place.”
Smith was identified in an arrest affidavit as the sister of Malik Stevens, a Lincoln University student involved in the fight. He has not been charged in the case.
According to the criminal complaint by Detective John DiBattista III, on Feb. 16, 2022, Lincoln police were called to the Thurgood Marshall Living and Learning Center at 9:14 p.m. for the report of a fight. When police arrived, they found Evans outside the dormitory with a knife wound to the neck and Dickerson and Walker wounded inside the dorm.
The stabbing was determined to have occurred in the first-floor hallway of the dormitory’s south wing, which had blood spattered on the floor, walls, and doorways. Bloody footprints led to the third floor, where one of the victims lived.
Investigators recovered a video that showed the altercation during which the stabbing occurred, after consulting with the school’s director of student success, Lyndsay Raymond, who said that it had been circulating on social media in the time following the fight.
In the video, Smith is seen plunging a knife into Evans’ neck, after which Evans staggers backward with a traumatic arterial bleed from his neck. Evans is heard yelling, “She stabbed me,” and clutching the right side of his neck. She could also be seen making stabbing motions towards the surviving two victims. The video shows at least six more students in danger of being stabbed.
A resident of the dormitory provided investigators with two other videos she took of the scene outside a dorm room on the first floor that showed the incident. Multiple participants were identified in the fight, including Stevens.
A check of the police log from that night showed that a female had called Lincoln police around 7:30 p.m. on the night of the stabbing. She said that there was a group of men threatening her brother in his dorm, upset because his roommate allegedly stole something from them. The caller, whose phone number was later connected to Smith, said that “family was coming up” to address the situation.
Investigators recovered security footage from Lincoln University that shows a maroon Infiniti registered to Smith entering the campus at 9:07 p.m. — just before the stabbing — and leaving at 9:22 p.m. Further investigation revealed the Infiniti traveling east in Upper Chichester, Delaware County, at 10:05 p.m.
On the student videos taken and reviewed by detectives, the woman who stabbed the three men could be seen wearing a white or grey sweatshirt with yellow lettering and a yellow hat, according to the complaint. She was accompanied by another woman who wore a plaid shirt and a scarf on her head. That person has not been identified.
The trial is expected to last into next week.
To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.
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