An Allston man was held on high bail today following his arraignment for the fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Richard Bevans in the middle of an Allston street in late February, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

MITCHELL MARTINEZ (D.O.B. 8/29/86) was arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court this morning on a charge of second-degree murder for allegedly stabbing Bevans multiple times. Clerk Magistrate Connie Wong ordered Martinez to be held on $250,000 cash bail.

Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum of Conley’s Homicide Unit told the court that Martinez and Bevans were members of two separate groups that exchanged “trivial but hostile words” with one another near Harvard and Brighton Avenues at about 1:45 am on Feb. 28. The conflict moved down Harvard Avenue to an area outside of Martinez’s residence where the verbal exchange turned physical.

Polumbaum said that footage from nearby security cameras, eyewitness accounts, and physical evidence show that two people in Martinez’s group advanced on Bevans, who was not armed. Meanwhile, Martinez, armed with a knife, circled the disturbance, eventually “plunging into the fray.”

“When the groups dispersed,” Polumbaum told the court, “Bevins lay mortally wounded on a sidewalk.”

Bystanders told a responding Boston Police officer that the stabber, identified by his bushy ponytail, had run into a nearby building. The officer went around to the back parking lot and saw Martinez leap from a fire escape.

The officer “caught Martinez after a foot chase and noticed he had a cut on his abdomen and an injury to his right hand consistent with an offensive stab wound,” Polumbaum said. Witnesses later identified Martinez as the stabber.

Officers searched the apartment and found several other members of Martinez’s group.

“On a table in the apartment was a bloodstained knife,” said Polumbaum. “DNA testing revealed that blood on the blade and handle of the knife matched Martinez’s DNA profile.”

Bevans was transported from the scene to Brigham and Women’s Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Martinez was represented by attorney Robert Wheeler. He will return to court on Aug. 9. Catherine Yuan in the DA’s victim-witness advocate assigned to the case.