NEW YORK -- An ex-convict who was accused of stabbing an East Harlem minister and civil rights activist to death was held without bail Wednesday following his Manhattan Criminal Court arraignment.

David Jordan, 44, was arraigned on a second-degree murder charge in the death of Rev. Philip M. Mann, 68, pastor of Harlem's Blessed Trinity Baptist Church. The minister was found on the floor of his apartment at 1295 Fifth Ave., a stab wound in his chest.

Assistant District Attorney Christopher Dimase told the court Jordan has an extensive criminal record, that he was on parole, and "in this case he has confessed to the crime."

Jordan told television reporters that Mann asked him to have sex and he refused.

"He went into his kitchen and got a knife and grabbed me, grabbed my crotch area, and he tried to take my pants down," Jordan said.

Jordan's lawyer, Eric Sears, told Judge Abraham Clott he would reserve his bail application for a later court appearance.

Clott ordered Jordan remanded without bail and scheduled his next court appearance for March 31.

Bill Perkins, a former City Council member who lives in the same Fifth Avenue apartment complex that Mann did, called the slaying "very shocking."

Perkins said the minister moved into the neighborhood when it was drug infested and helped to "make sure a better day came" by fighting narcotics traffickers and directing addicts to treatment.