BOSTON (AP) - A grocery store worker in Boston's Back Bay has pleaded not guilty to assault in the stabbing of a customer, which his lawyer says was self-defense.
Forty-nine-year-old Michael Guess was held on $250,000 cash bail after his arraignment Friday. Prosecutors said the 30-year-old Cambridge man who was stabbed in the abdomen has life-threatening injuries.
Prosecutors said the man called police at 10 p.m. Thursday, saying he'd been stabbed by a Trader Joe's store employee after a confrontation.
Police said Guess told investigators he exchanged words with the man when he tried to enter the store at closing, then again when the man left after buying something.
Guess's defense attorney said the man was drunk, verbally abusive and made a threatening move toward his client.
California-based Trader Joe's says the incident is "unfortunate" and it's cooperating with authorities.
