Youth Acquitted In Stabbing of B'klyn Boy, 14

Brooklyn teenager was acquitted yesterday in the senseless killing of Michael Bennett, 14, a promising youth who was chased down and stabbed after a basketball game in Crown Heights. After a month-long trial and two days of deliberations, a jury cleared Yasser Ashburn, 15, of murder and manslaughter charges in the Jan. 27 slaying. "We knew from the very beginning he didn't do anything," said Ashburn's lawyer, James Koenig. Michael, a talented Lafayette High School freshman who excelled in school and several sports, was set upon by a mob after a dispute at the game at Intermediate School 320 on Jan. 27.

A half-dozen teens carrying knives and baseball bats chased Michael down after someone mistakenly identified him as a boy who had insulted a girl keeping score at the game. Michael, an immigrant from Jamaica, was stabbed and left to die at a gas station nearby. Ashburn was accused of stabbing Michael twice. His first trial ended in a hung jury on Oct. 29. Prosecutor James Lamb said yesterday, "We accept the jury's verdict." Another teenager, Izzy Hill, 16, was found guilty of manslaughter in the case. One youth has pleaded guilty to assault, and two others still face trial on manslaughter charges.