Nov 21, 2018 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – A fistfight inside a Franklin Township vape shop earlier this month escalated into a stabbing that left a man with a collapsed lung, the victim testified Wednesday during the preliminary hearing for Marcus Booze, who is accused of attempted homicide.

Franklin Russell II testified that he and his girlfriend were “just hanging out” with the owner of DubTown Vapes after the store had closed Nov. 4 when a couple of people with whom he was involved in a simmering social media feud entered the store at 125 Wade St. shortly before 9 p.m.

Russell said he began arguing with the couple, Louis Hunyady and Marissa Romanakis, when it turned into a shoving match.

“He pushed me, I pushed him,” Russell said. “One thing led to another and here we are.”

The two men began throwing punches in a fistfight in which Russell said he “got the better of” Hunyady. Russell said Romanakis also punched him in the face twice during the melee. Hunyady, who received a black eye during the fight, soon asked for them to stop and the brawl began breaking up when Russell said he felt himself get stabbed.

“I felt some pressure in my back and then felt warmth,” Russell said.

He soon realized it was blood after being stabbed in the middle left side of his back. Russell turned around and said he saw Booze holding an instrument in his left hand.

“I got stabbed,” Russell recalled saying at the time. “Call the cops. I have to go to the hospital.”

The others left and Russell was taken to WHS-Greene hospital, where doctors inserted an emergency chest tube to prevent his lung from fully deflating. He was then flown by medical helicopter to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va., where he spent two days recovering from a wound that doctors told investigators was five or six inches deep and also nicked his spleen.

During an interview with state police, Booze initially claimed self-defense before admitting that he stabbed Russell to defend his friend, Trooper Joseph Popielarcheck testified. Popielarcheck said Booze told him he heard Hunyady shouting for help before he “poked him in and out” during the fight. Popielarcheck testified that when he then asked Booze what happened to the knife, the suspect responded, “What knife?”

Popielarcheck said investigators found a “linear” cut in Russell’s shirt and hooded sweatshirt consistent with a knife entry.

Booze’s defense attorney, Noah Geary, called Russell the aggressor and said his client was responding to defend his friend who was being attacked.

“There’s no intent to murder Mr. Russell,” Geary said in his request to have the attempted homicide charge dismissed. “I don’t think that can be fairly inferred from the situation. Marcus was trying to help his friend.”

Greene County Assistant District Attorney Patrick Fitch argued that “the fight was over” and the situation was de-escalating when the stabbing occurred.

“This isn’t a slap across the face,” Fitch said. “This is a deadly weapon that was used.”

District Judge David Balint agreed and ordered Booze, 19, of 67 Second St., Crucible, to stand trial on the attempted homicide charge and one count of aggravated assault. Booze was returned to Greene County jail on $150,000 bond to await his formal arraignment on the charges Dec. 10.

Neither Hunyady nor Russell has been charged in connection with the fistfight, although Popielarcheck said that was still a possibility.