Jury Finds Buffalo Man Guilty of Murder for Fatal Stabbing in City's Kensington Neighborhood

Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Keane announces that a jury has found Eric M. Hawkins, 59, of Buffalo, guilty of one count of Murder in the Second Degree (Class "A-I" felony). Jurors rendered their decision yesterday afternoon after approximately three hours of deliberation following a three-day trial, convicting the defendant of the sole count of the indictment.

On Sunday, June 11, 2023, at approximately 9:30 p.m., the defendant stabbed the victim multiples times outside of a home on the first block of Connelly Avenue in the City of Buffalo. The victim, 39-year-old Glenn Ervin Drue, Jr., was taken by ambulance to ECMC where he later died from the injuries.

Hawkins faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced before State Supreme Court Justice M. William Boller on Friday, February 14, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. He remains held without bail.

DA Keane commends Officer Stanley Honrada, Officer Gerard Gerry Wasilewski, Detective Sergeant Keith Fitzner and retired Detective Sergeant Carl Lundin of the Buffalo Police Department as well as the US Marshals Service for their work in this investigation.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney John P. Gerken, Jr. of the Homicide Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Daniel J. Morris of the Felony Trials Bureau.