US News

‘MISTAKEN’ KILLER IS CONVICTED

A mugging victim who killed a good Samaritan he thought was one of his attackers was convicted yesterday of murder.

Maurice Parks contended he was disoriented and not in his right mind when he stuck a knife in Flonarza Byas and hadn’t meant to kill him, but a Manhattan jury deliberated for just a day before deciding Byas’ 15 stab wounds added up to murder.

“To me it’s a tragedy all the way around,” said Parks’ lawyer, Anthony Ricco.

His subway-conductor client was steps from his Harlem apartment on Jan. 10, 2008, when he was set upon by three robbers who stabbed him.

Parks pulled his own knife and stabbed one of the attackers, and was “in great fear” and pain when Byas, 29, went to help the bleeding man, Ricco said.

Parks stabbed the approaching tax preparer, then chased after him when the victim tried to flee.

By the time Parks was through, Byas had been stabbed 15 times — seven times in the back.

Prosecutor David O’Keefe contended Parks had decided to become “judge, jury and executioner.”

Parks faces a minimum of 15 years to life in prison when he’s sentenced on June 24.