A trial into a killing at Lincoln University opens with dueling versions of what led to the stabbing

For the next two weeks, a Chester County jury will weigh the evidence behind an East Mount Airy woman’s decision to drive to Lincoln University last year armed with a steak knife — a decision that led to one man dying from a stab wound to his neck.

Was Nydira Smith, 40, there, as prosecutors asserted during opening statements Tuesday, to “finish the fight” between her younger brother and other students who attacked him and his roommate? Or, as her attorneys contend, was she playing the role of protector, eager to save her brother from what he feared would be a fatal fight?

Both theories of the case were presented to the jurors Tuesday at the start of Smith’s trial on first- and third-degree murder, trespassing, aggravated assault, and related charges.

Jawine Evans, 21, was killed in the Feb. 16, 2022, melee between two groups of students, prosecutors said. A graduate of South Philadelphia High School, Evans was an aspiring basketball player and dean’s list student in his senior year at Lincoln, according to his family.

Two other students, Eric Dickerson and Clifton Walker, were also attacked by Smith and suffered minor injuries. They are among the dozens of witnesses expected to testify during Smith’s trial before Chester County Court Judge Nicole Forzato.

A video recorded during the fight depicted Smith stabbing Evans in the neck, prosecutors said Tuesday. She is seen walking into a frame with the knife raised above her head, according to Assistant District Attorney Justin Roberts.

“Students thought this was a fight that required fists,” Roberts told jurors. “But it wasn’t until the defendant arrived on the scene that a weapon came out.”

In the video, Evans is then seen staggering backward, clutching his neck as it bleeds heavily and crying out, “She stabbed me.”

No other weapons were seen by the students involved. Some, Roberts added, didn’t even realize a knife had been used until Evans collapsed in a pool of blood.

» READ MORE: Woman arrested in killing of Lincoln University student was allowed on campus because she was ‘family,’ official said

One of Smith’s attorneys, Vince DiFabio, said during his opening statement Tuesday that his client acted in self-defense. Her brother, a Lincoln student, had told her he was being bullied and threatened, and she had driven nearly 50 miles from her home in Philadelphia to pick him up.

“When you send your brother to the college you attended, one you received a scholarship to and graduated with honors from, you send him there to get a better life,” DiFabio said. “Not for him to be attacked by an angry group of thugs that are also students there.”

DiFabio said Smith’s brother, Malik Stevens, was a senior at the historically Black university at the time. His roommate had been accused of stealing another student’s wallet, and a “mob” had been formed by Dickerson and Walker to get revenge, DiFabio said.

The group had attacked Stevens and his roommate earlier that day, DiFabio said, and had insinuated that they would return later with a gun. In a panic, Stevens called his sister and asked her to come pick him up.

Smith called campus security, DiFabio said, told them about the assaults, and said she was on her way to the campus.

» READ MORE: The woman charged in a fatal stabbing at Lincoln University acted in self-defense, her lawyer says

“Are those the actions of someone who wanted to commit a murder?” DiFabio said. “You tell them you’re coming out there?”

Shortly after Smith arrived, the group attacked Stevens again, and when Smith tried to de-escalate the fight, Walker punched her in the face, according to DiFabio. She then pulled out the steak knife and began “swinging it wildly,” he said, in an effort to protect her brother.

“It was an act of total self defense, to end this violence before they got injured, or possibly died from a gun that one of the students may have brought,” DiFabio said.

But Roberts, the prosecutor, said Smith didn’t call 911, or speak with campus security officers after arriving at the university. The fatal stabbing occurred, he said, because of “her actions and her ego.”

“One thing, one thread that runs the range of the evidence is that this was avoidable, but for the defendant’s actions,” Roberts said.

Smith and her brother fled after the attack. Hours after the stabbing, Philadelphia Police located Smith’s car near her home in East Mount Airy and served a search warrant on both.

Inside the home, detectives found bloodstained clothing matching what Smith was seen wearing, as well as a set of kitchen knives with one missing. They also found paperwork from Chestnut Hill Hospital showing that Smith sought medical treatment for a cut on her hand after leaving Lincoln University.