The 13-year-old charged in the stabbing death of Barnard College student Tessa Majors is “the youngest and the smallest individual” in his juvenile lock-up, his attorneys complained Thursday — as a judge denied their motion to release the boy pending trial.
Zyairr Davis is also “having a hard time with younger staff members” at the Crossroads Juvenile Center in Brooklyn, where he has refused to get out of bed, get out of a chair and use the gym, defense attorney Hannah Kaplan said at a pre-trial hearing in Manhattan Family Court.
Majors’ novelist father, who has been sitting in on hearings in the case this week let out an audible gasp and put his head down in court when Kaplan asked that Davis be released.
But Judge Carol Goldstein nixed Kaplan’s bid to free Davis ahead of his March 16 trial.
“I don’t find it terribly concerning that he has not always behaved in the best possible way, at least towards some of the staff,” the judge said.
Davis has denied stabbing Majors — an 18-year-old musician and aspiring journalist from Charlottesville, Virginia — but he’s admitted to being one of three teens who tried to rob the co-ed on Dec. 11, cops have said. She was stabbed to death when she fought back, according to police.
Davis was arrested the following day and charged with second-degree murder after police found a knife in his backpack. Police have said they have the murder weapon, but have not confirmed it is the knife found on Davis.
Two of Davis’ 14-year-old classmates at MS 180 are believed to have been involved in the fatal robbery, but were released after being questioned by police.
Prosecutors are trying to build a murder case against Davis and the other two teens at the hearings.
Kaplan’s request to have her young client released pending trial marked the fifth time defense lawyers have sought to free him from juvenile detention.
“I’d ask the court to note my client is not alleged to have stabbed the victim, my client is not alleged to have touched the victim — even,” Kaplan said in court Thursday of Davis. “My client is not alleged to have ever touched or been in possession of her property.”
But Goldstein refused to release the teen, citing “a serious risk of re-offending” if Davis is released, “the serious nature of the offense.”