Standing before a panel of 15 Superior Court jurors, a Suffolk County homicide prosecutor explained the circumstances of 16-year-old Terrence Jacobs’ stabbing death on a busy Dorchester street three years ago.

“It’s a case about revenge and retaliation,” Assistant District Attorney Mark Hallal said, “and these four defendants – PAUL GOODE, PEDRO ORTIZ, TERRANCE PABON, and MARKEESE MITCHELL – who made a conscious and deliberate decision on May 22, 2007, to take the life of Terrence Jacobs by literally chasing him down, stabbing him in the back, and plunging their lives into his body no less than 20 times.”

Hallal told the court that Goode (D.O.B. 1/9/83), Ortiz (D.O.B. 8/8/79), Pabon (D.O.B. 1/22/90), and Mitchell (D.O.B. 4/9/91) were friends of a 14-year-old boy whose face Jacobs had slashed with a razor at a Dorchester roller rink in January 2007.

“This was revenge and retaliation for what Terrence Jacobs did,” Hallal said, telling jurors that the slashing case “was heading toward indictment … all the way up to May 22, 2007, when the defendants exacted their revenge on Terrence Jacobs.”

Hallal said that the defendants made arrangements with two of Jacobs’ associates to bring Jacobs to the area of Wilcock Street for “a one-on-one fight.” The plan was for Jacobs to undergo “a beatdown for what he had done to their friend,” Hallal said.

When Jacobs arrived near the intersection of Blue Hill Avenue and Wilcock Street, Hallal said, the defendants and others threw him to the ground and began kicking him. One of Jacobs’ friends pulled a gun and fired a shot into the air, at which point some members of the group dispersed.

“Terrence Jacobs got up and literally began running for his life,” Hallal said.

Pabon allegedly ran after him while swinging a knife.

“He was literally slashing Terrence Jacobs’ back as he was trying to get away,” Hallal said. “Paul Goode, Pedro Ortiz, and Markeese Mitchell joined the chase on Havelock Street and all began plunging their knives into him.”

When the attack was over, Jacobs had suffered stab wounds to his chest, back, legs, arms, and hands.

Hallal said prosecution witnesses would include neighborhood residents, motorists who observed the chase and attack from their cars, participants in the incident, and Boston Police.

“They will tell you what a difficult time they had getting any information from anyone on Havelock Street about what happened,” Hallal said.

Goode, Ortiz, Pabon, and Mitchell are represented by attorneys Scott Curtis, Michael Doolin, Stephen Neyman, and Elliot Weinstein, respectively. Judge Judith Fabricant is presiding in courtroom 907 of Suffolk Superior Court.