'A Knife Saved His Life,' Defense Lawyer Says

Jurors deciding the fate of Lawrence Gaines at his homicide trial will have to determine what kind of man he was when he allegedly stabbed William Thompson to death last year.

Was he, as prosecutors argue, the "muscle" for an Easton drug house who brutally attacked a struggling drug addict and left him to die in the street?

Or was he a homeless man who—after trying to walk away from a fight—pulled a blade from his pocket only to defend himself during a fast, confusing brawl?

"It took a knife to save that man's life," defense attorney Robert Sletvold told jurors Monday, the first day of Gaines' trial on criminal homicide charges in Northampton County Court.

Gaines, 45, is accused of stabbing Thompson, 43, during a fight in the early morning hours of July 3, 2012 on the 600 block of Ferry Street.

The jury is expected to spend the next few days hearing about the circumstances of that fight, which left Thompson—known all his life as "Poncho"—dead from multiple stab wounds.

On the morning of the stabbing, Thompson went to a house at 613 Ferry St. to buy drugs, Assistant District Attorney Michele Kluk said in her opening statement. Gaines was inside the house, where he served as security, or "muscle."

"That morning, he was more than the muscle. He was the judge, jury and executioner," said Kluk.

Gaines, wearing a dark suit, sat facing forward as Kluk described the fight. It began, she said, when Thompson was turned away from the house. He and Gaines fought, with Gaines beating and kicking Thompson.

Thompson left, and returned with a rotted, broken piece of railing, hitting Gaines in the shoilder, Kluk said.

Gaines attacked Thompson, she said, burying the knife in his buttocks, hitting his arm, and cutting open his vital femoral artery.

Thompson staggered into the street, she said, flagging down a passing car for help before collapsing.

Gaines ran away, but was later arrested wearing the same clothes from the fight, including sneakers spotted with Thompson's blood, Kluk said.

She acknowlged Thompson was an addict, but also spoke of him as a son, one who had kissed his mother goodbye and promised to come back in 20 minutes.

Because he was "in the wrong place at the wrong time," Kluk said, he couldn't keep that promise.

But Thompson might still be alive if he hadn't come back to the fight with a piece of wood, Sletvold told jurors.

As the case proceeds, he said, they'll have a lot of time to examine the railing piece, or the knife, and to think about how they might have handled them.

"You don't have that kind of time in a streetfight," he said, arguing that "time collapses and expands."

It's crucial, Sletvold said, that Gaines walked away after the initial fight. He only pulled a knife—"a knife that saved his life," Sletvold stressed—because of the second fight, and because Thompson was attacking him.

"That, ladies and gentlemen, is self-defense," Sletvold said.

Sletvold said in his opening he expects the trial to last much of the week.

If Gaines is convicted first-degree murder as prosecutors have asked, he will spend the rest of his life in prison.