A liberal jury in Portland, Oregon, acquitted 43-year-old Gary Edwards of second-degree assault stemming from a July 8 stabbing near a light-rail station because the victim called him a racial epithet after Edwards stabbed him.
Edwards, who is homeless, acknowledged stabbing Gregory Howard Jr. in the shoulder during a brief and volatile confrontation. Throughout the proceedings, Edwards maintained that he acted out of fear for his safety. But body-camera footage established that Howard’s use of a racial slur occurred while medics tended to him after the incident, not during the escalation — a fact both sides accepted.
Silent surveillance footage showed Edwards walking toward Howard with a fixed-blade knife while Howard sat on a bench. Howard immediately stood, pushed Edwards away, and the two struggled before the stabbing. Without audio, jurors were left to weigh Edwards’ subjective fear against the visible moment of confrontation.
Jury nullification: A Portland, Ore. jury acquitted a violent black career criminal who admitted to stabbing a white man because the victim said the N-word after being stabbed. The defence argued the stabbing was self-defence against racism. pic.twitter.com/Z6O8G4RkLW
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) December 6, 2025
In closing arguments, defense attorney Daniel Small urged jurors to consider how racial hostility — whether perceived or spoken — can shape a confrontation between strangers. “What other than racism could explain why Mr. Howard perceived hatred, animosity and aggression from a complete stranger,” Small told jurors, insisting that Howard’s reactions were rooted in racial animus, even if the provocation on video was not verbal.
Body-camera recordings confirmed that Howard later used a slur toward Edwards while receiving medical attention. No evidence showed that Howard uttered a slur before the stabbing, and the prosecution emphasized this, arguing that Edwards escalated a situation in which no immediate verbal threat was present.
Prosecutor Katherine Williams rejected the self-defense framing entirely. “The defendant is not scared for his life. He didn’t retreat, he sauntered up—and he sauntered away after he stabbed someone. The defendant created the situation,” Williams said, contending that Edwards was the aggressor from the outset.
After deliberation, jurors returned a not-guilty verdict on Oct. 31, since pre-racist thoughts apparently justifies stabbing people. Edwards’ criminal history weighed heavily on the pretrial phase. He has a prior conviction from 2021 for attempted second-degree assault and previously served three years in prison for a separate stabbing incident in 2020. Prosecutors cited that pattern when arguing Edwards posed an ongoing public safety risk, winning a pretrial detention order that kept him in jail for roughly three months before the jury cleared him.
