Charges Mysteriously Dropped After Self-Defense Killing
(NewsReady.com) – Jose Alba went to work on July 1 in New York City like he had hundreds of times. By the end of the day, he was facing murder charges. After weeks of outraged statements from the mayor to newspapers, the city’s top prosecutor has finally decided to make the right decision.
On July 19, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) notified the court that he was dropping murder charges against the 61-year-old bodega worker. Alba was charged after stabbing 35-year-old Austin Simon during a dispute at the store. The deceased attacked the clerk, who fought back during the struggle, fatally wounding his attacker.
Police arrested the worker even though a surveillance video showed he was being attacked in the small space by the cash register when he stabbed Simon. Bragg’s office admitted the murder might have been justified and said prosecutors would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it wasn’t.
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), who is running for governor, is now criticizing New York officials for charging Alba in the first place.
Jose Alba got locked up on a murder charge for an act of self-defense,
The woman who stabbed him is free w/out criminal charges, &
2 Mexican cartel drug smugglers caught with $1.2M of crystal meth are free on cashless bail.
After we FIRE Hochul Nov 8, I’ll FIRE Bragg on Jan 1! pic.twitter.com/KwjSmCst0U
— Lee Zeldin (@leezeldin) July 12, 2022
CBS News reported that Mayor Eric Adams (D) celebrated Alba’s freedom, saying he was just an “innocent, hard-working New Yorker” who did his job and Simon “was extremely aggressive towards him.”
What do you think about the case? Should Bragg face punishment for bringing the charges at all?
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