Singha Oeun was acquitted of manslaughter charges in the 2019 stabbing death of Nicolas "Cole" Kern. The verdict was handed down Thursday in Norfolk Superior Court, following a nearly two-week trial that kept jurors and family members on edge. Oeun, who faced serious time over the deadly confrontation in a Brookline park, maintained his innocence, claiming self-defense all the way through the proceedings.
The altercation that ended in tragedy unfolded on Nov. 19, 2019, when Kern and a friend attempted to purchase prescription drugs from Oeun, according to the Boston Globe. What began as an illicit transaction spiraled into a fight that left Kern suffering from multiple stab wounds. Despite emergency surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, the 20-year-old student from the University of Vermont did not survive. Oeun, who was 21 at the time of the incident, was arrested shortly thereafter when Snapchat messages on Kern's phone led police to suspect him in the crime.
The defense painted a picture of a scuffle that turned deadly, claiming Oeun was fending off an attack from Kern, who reportedly was drunk and had used a broken vodka bottle to rob Oeun of two Xanax pills. In a statement obtained by BrooklineNews, Oeun's attorney John Galvin argued, “Kern was on him. This is close quarters, sudden combat,”
Meanwhile, Prosecutor Adam Lally emphasized that Kern had received 19 stab wounds, and questioned Oeun's assertion that he had been pinned and acted entirely in self-defense. “The defendant was pursuing Mr. Kern because he wanted the pills back,” Lally said, a narrative that was ultimately rejected by the jury, as reported by BrooklineNews.
Despite the tensions, after about three hours of deliberation, the jury returned with a not-guilty verdict.
Additional layers to the case include Nathan Ewen, Kern's accomplice in the alleged robbery, facing his legal battles. According to court documents Ewen pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of larceny and received a sentence of a year and a half in prison, but was credited for time served and placed on probation.
