Man gets 16 to 18 years for fatal stabbing outside Dorchester take-out place

Edgardo Clark today pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for killing Gerald Williamson outside Chung Wah on Bowdoin Street on Oct. 16, 2014, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Christine Roach then sentenced Clark to 16 to 18 years in state prison.

A Suffolk Superior Court jury had deadlocked earlier this year when considering a first-degree murder conviction for Clark, 32, for the way he fatally stabbed Williamson. Clark had argued the stabbing was in self defense.

According to the DA's office:

Had the case proceeded to a second trial, ADA Ian Polumbaum would have presented evidence to prove that Williamson and Clark were strangers when Clark started a verbal altercation with the victim inside a Bowdoin Street Chinese takeout restaurant on the evening of Oct. 16, 2014. The argument appeared to be over, until Williamson bumped Clark while leaving the restaurant. The evidence showed that Clark followed Williamson outside and a fistfight ensued. When Williamson appeared to gain the upper hand in the fight, Clark pulled out a knife and stabbed the victim in the neck, causing him to bleed to death.

Clark surrendered himself to Boston Police four days later on Oct. 20, 2014, after homicide investigators identified him as the assailant through witness statements and images captured by security cameras. Clark testified at the trial and admitted stabbing Williamson but claimed to have acted in self-defense.