Khari Noerdlinger was 19 at the time he stabbed 16-year-old Savion Lewallen in Edgewater in February 2016.
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Video surfaced showing a group of men attacking Khari Noerdlinger. The video showed them hitting him with an apparent baseball bat.
It was claimed that two of the attackers were wielding knives.
Even with the video showing Khari being the victim of the attack, he was the one charged because one of the attackers was stabbed and died.
Khari claimed self-defense. His attorney called it a case of prosecutorial overreach.
"If you think this is the only time this prosecutor and this detective have ever lynched someone, or at least attempted to, you're out of your mind," said attorney Jeffrey Lichtman.
Rachel Noerdlinger, a former aide to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's wife Chirlane McCray, resigned in 2014 after a string of damaging disclosures about her personal life, including Khari's arrest on trespassing charges.
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She said there is no reason to celebrate the most serious charge in the stabbing case being dropped.
"This has been the most painful 19 months to watch my son endure," said Rachel Noerdlinger.
Khari is still facing two other charges involving the attack. possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes, and hindering apprehension for removing evidence from the crime scene.
He is due back in court Nov. 7.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)