Bianca Devins, 17, had attended the unspecified performance with 21-year-old Brandon Andrew Clark, who police said slit her throat after they returned to Utica and then posted a gruesome photo of her to Instagram.
The man accused of killing rising social media influencer Bianca Devins allegedly went after her because he believed she kissed another person while attending a concert in Queens, New York, Saturday, according to a report.
Devins, 17, had attended the unspecified performance with 21-year-old Brandon Andrew Clark, who police said slit her throat after they returned to Utica and then posted a gruesome photo of her to Instagram.
“The belief is she kissed somebody at the concert and that’s what upset him,” Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara told WKTV-TV.
It’s the defense he said he believes Clark’s attorney may use to argue the 21-year-old was under “something called extreme emotional disturbance.”
“It doesn't negate the crime, but it mitigates it,” he said.
If Clark’s attorney were to successfully argue such a defense, it could help to reduce the level of crime with which he is charged, McNamara said. Clark has been charged with second-degree murder.
McNamara said he does not embrace such a defense, but is prepared to address it should it come up.
"I have a very hard time understanding how anybody can justify taking another young person's life because they kissed somebody else,” he said.
Clark called police after allegedly killing Devins, officials said.
He then allegedly cut his own throat and posted a photo of the grisly wound on Instagram. He was rushed to a hospital in critical condition and is reportedly recovering from surgery.
In an email to InsideEdition.com, Oneida public defender Frank Nebush said: "I don’t know where the possible defense of extreme emotional disturbance came from. ... As far as I know, no one in this office has mentioned any defense at this point. It’s way too early. I don’t know where Scott [McNamara] got this information."
Nebush said the attorney he assigned to Clark's case interviewed him at the hospital Tuesday afternoon.
"We are just not in a position to comment on anything involving this case at this point and out of deference to the victim’s family and our client and his family we do not contemplate issuing any statements at this time," Nebush said.
RELATED STORIES
