The Grand Central Station slasher who attacked a family of tourists on Christmas Day 2023 name-dropped fired federal prosecutor Maurene Comey in a deranged rant as he was sentenced to more than 25 years in prison Friday.
A remorseless Steven Hutcherson, 38, rambled incoherently in Manhattan criminal court where he received a prison term of 26-and-a-third to 29 years after he was convicted in the random attack last month,
“The reality is, I was forced to do that by the FBI,” he wildly claimed before bringing up former FBI director James Comey’s daughter.
“Maurene Comey just got fired, the prosecutor,” he told Manhattan assistant district attorney Ashlyn Dean “You’ll be next, don’t worry, because the truth is on my side.”
Comey was canned from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York by the Department of Justice Wednesday. Her father was dismissed by President Trump during his first term in the Oval Office.
Hutcherson’s antics at his sentencing came after his trial was also filled with bizarre behavior.
“He refused over and over to take accountability for his actions, consistently blaming other people. Every time he admitted what he had done, there was an excuse for that,” Dean told Judge Marisol Martin-Alonzo.
“The defendant’s conduct in the trial was disruptive, distractive and quite frankly atrocious,” she added.
Hutcherson, whose legal name is Esteban Esonoasue, first attacked the mother of a family with a fork before he targeted her two teen daughters – ages 14 and 16 – with a knife while they were having breakfast inside the famous transit hub in 2023.
One of the girls was stabbed in the back while the other was knifed in the leg as she tried to escape the crazed brute, Dean said.
He was quickly arrested, but days later he again acted out and slashed two fellow inmates multiple times in the face while slamming the door on a female correction officer, telling her, “I’ve got you bitch,” Dean said.
Hutcherson was convicted of the Grand Central attack in June of a slew of charges including a count each of first and second-degree assault and a count each of first and second-degree assault, according to the district attorney’s office.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg called Hutcherson’s punishment “a very significant prison term.”
“My thoughts remain with the victims and their loved ones, who continue to navigate the psychological and emotional effects from this horrific attack,” Bragg said in a statement.
“New Yorkers, commuters and tourists rely on the transit system daily and deserve to be safe when they travel, and we will hold those accountable who commit these acts of violence.”
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