West Philly teen acquitted of murder in stabbing of classmate

A former West Philadelphia High School ninth grader was acquitted Wednesday of murder charges in the 2015 stabbing of a fellow student after a lunchroom incident.

The Common Pleas Court jury had deliberated about seven hours since Tuesday before clearing Xzavier Beemon, now 18, of all charges in the Jan. 15, 2015, death of 14-year-old Nafis O'Neal.

After the jury left, there was a vocal outburst involving the families of O'Neal and Beemon, and the sides were separately escorted from the courtroom without further incident.

"He's ecstatic and relieved," defense attorney Kevin Mincey said later. Mincey, who handled the case with partner Thomas Fitzpatrick, said he expected Beemon to be released from the prison system Wednesday night.

Cameron Kline, spokesman for the District Attorney's Office, said prosecutors wished to thank the jurors for their service and respected their decision.

At the time of Beemon's arrest, the crime was described as another example of senseless violence that had claimed the life of a popular football and basketball player.

Even Beemon, testifying in his own defense last Thursday, conceded that O'Neal was "pretty popular."

Beemon, however, described the stabbing as self-defense, and other classmates of O'Neal testified that he had a reputation as a fighter who regularly beat up other students.

Also supporting Beemon's defense was the physical difference between Beemon, then 5-foot-7 and 170 pounds, and O'Neal, 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds.

Beemon told the jury that he and his family had moved to West Philadelphia from rural Alabama in 2011, and testified that he feared walking the city's streets. Beemon said he spent his free time at home playing video games with a friend.

He also said he found a pocketknife one day and began carrying it for self-protection, hiding it in an alley when he went into school

The incident that ended in the fatal confrontation began at the high school during lunch period when O'Neal walked in front of Beemon and brushed or bumped him. A school security video shown to the jury caught the slight and the start of an argument that was broken up by a school staffer.

Beemon testified that O'Neal told him to move and "watch where I was going," and when he objected, challenged him to a fight after school.

"I was scared," Beemon testified. "I had never been in a fight before."

Beemon said he and a friend left school early to walk home and got to 46th and Market Streets when O'Neal and another student rode up on bikes and cornered him. They backed him up against a car, Beemon said, and began punching and kneeing him. Beemon said he reached into his pocket, pulled out the knife, and stabbed O'Neal.

O'Neal got onto his bike and began to ride away before collapsing and dying of a wound to the heart.

Assistant District Attorney Laurie Moore argued that Beemon was jealous of O'Neal's popularity and, after the cafeteria incident, retrieved his knife and then waited for O'Neal.

"I didn't aim at his chest," Beemon told Moore. "I just swung and it happened I hit his chest."

In his closing to the jury Friday, Fitzpatrick said the case was "about as tragic as they come."

"I'm sorry their baby is gone," Fitzpatrick told O'Neal's family in the gallery, "but this kid didn't kill him in cold blood. This kid was afraid."