Jury acquits man in Wendy’s coworker stabbing

WILKES-BARRE — A Luzerne County jury acquitted a man of stabbing a coworker during a fight outside Wendy’s on Kidder Street in Wilkes-Barre in 2022.

The jury deliberated for 38 minutes late Thursday, finding Marc Rivers, 54, not guilty on two counts of aggravated assault following a three-day trial before Judge David W. Lupas.

Wilkes-Barre police charged Rivers with stabbing Bradley Reese during a fight in the restaurant’s parking lot on Aug. 29, 2022.

Reese and coworker Hailey Walsh waited for Rivers to confront him about the number of scheduled hours they worked at Wendy’s.

Rivers normally worked 45 hours while Reese and Walsh worked 36 hours per week.

The confrontation was recorded by Edward Giles who accompanied Reese and Walsh to the parking lot.

Rivers testified in his own defense Thursday, telling the jury he normally closed the restaurant at 10:30 p.m. each night and walked several blocks to his residence on South Welles Street, Wilkes-Barre. Because he walked at night, Rivers said he carried knives in his pocket for protection.

Assistant district attorneys Carl Frank and Gerry Scott and Rivers’ attorney John B. Pike played Giles’ video to the jury multiple times.

The video showed Reese and Walsh in Rivers’s face as they yelled at each other about scheduled work hours and about Rivers going on dates with another female coworker who is 10 years younger.

When Rivers called Walsh a derogatory name, Walsh began slapping Rivers as Reese joined in the fight.

Rivers said he pulled out a knife when Reese began choking him and Walsh punching his head.

“I said, ‘I’m not letting this guy (Reese) choke me out,’ if I blacked out, what were they going to do to me,” Rivers testified.

After Reese realized he had been stabbed twice in the chest, Rivers called 911 but not before swinging the knife once more at Walsh as she charged at him.

Rivers said he placed three knives on the ground prior to police arriving at the scene.

Reese suffered two stab wounds that collapsed both lungs, Frank told the jury.

During closing arguments, Pike told the jury Reese and Walsh waited for Rivers and had Giles record the confrontation. Pike noted for the jury Reese and Walsh intended to fight Rivers as Reese was drunk and had taken his eyeglasses off to start the fight.

“As Bradley was choking Marc with Hailey punching him, that was the deciding factor for Marc, he took the knife out and stabbed him in self defense,” Pike said. “Marc’s actions were reasonable to stop the assault.”

“Bradley and Hailey did act inappropriately that night,” Frank said. “The fact that we are here is (Rivers) stabbed Bradley twice in the chest and both his lungs collapsed.”