(NECN: Scot Yount, Brighton, Mass.) – A Boston man charged with the city’s first murder of the New Year was in court Wednesday.
Brian MacDonald is accused of fatally stabbing another man at a party.
"As good as anybody's child could do under the circumstances, understanding that the parents of the victim feel the same," said Defense Attorney Tom Hoopes.
The friends and roommates of 21-year-old stabbing victim Anthony Spaulding of Harwich, Mass., left Brighton District Court without saying anything, some of them in tears.
It is Boston's first murder of 2013 and it happened at a New Year's Eve party in the city's Allston-Brighton section when a fight broke out between Spaulding, an audio engineering student who lived here while going to school, and 24-year-old MacDonald, who is now charged in Spaulding's murder.
Prosecutors allege that MacDonald, who lives here on Washington Street in Brighton, came to the party with his girlfriend, who was an invited guest.
Spaulding apparently asked MacDonald to quiet down and a fight ensued, and, at some point, investigators allege MacDonald pulled out a knife.
"When the Boston Police arrived, they located 21-year-old Anthony Spaulding, the victim in this case and a student at the Mass Institute of Art suffering from at least two stab wounds that they were able to observe," said prosecutor Holly Broadbent.
MacDonald did not show his face in court but his family did appear and left without making any comments.
MacDonald's attorney said little.
"This case is just a sad, sad situation for everyone involved, for the parents, for the victim, and for the defendant," said Hoopes.
The judge set bail at $500,000 cash. MacDonald is due back in a Boston courtroom on February 7 for a status hearing.
