Metese Hinds was sentenced Thursday in New London Superior Court to 55 years in prison for the Oct. 24, 2017, stabbing death of Raheeim "Rah" General.

Hinds had been convicted by a jury in February of murder and carrying a dangerous weapon. According to testimony, he had used a kitchen knife to repeatedly stab General on a fire escape landing at 49 Blackhall St.

Before handing down the sentence, Judge Hunchu Kwak allowed Hinds to speak at length about what he claims were violations of his constitutional rights at trial, including "Too much blood was shown to the jurors at my trial."

Two family friends spoke on behalf of General, a 33-year-old father of five children. Hinds' longtime female companion also attended the hearing.

Senior Assistant State's Attorney Thomas M. DeLillo was the lead prosecutor, with assistance from Supervisory Assistant State's Attorney Paul J. Narducci, Inspector Timothy Pitkin and Victim Services Advocate Stephanie Barber.

Attorney Robert F. Kappes represented Hinds, who has been incarcerated since the day after the stabbing.

According to the evidence, Hinds, General and others had been drinking in a third-floor apartment on Blackhall Street. The tenant who was hosting them told them to leave. A fight broke out on the fire escape landing, and an eyewitness said Hinds retrieved a knife from the kitchen of the second-floor apartment, where he was staying. Three eyewitnesses testified that Hinds stabbed General repeatedly, went inside the second-floor apartment, then returned outside and continued kicking the unconscious General even after police arrived.

General suffered stab wounds to the neck, abdomen and left arm.

New London police had responded, investigated and processed the interior and exterior crime scenes. Detective Richard Curcuro had testified at the trial that he scrambled to photograph the blood on the fire escape landing before it was washed away by rain.

k.florin@theday.com