The top prosecutor of Maricopa County in Arizona has refused to extradite a murder suspect to New York City to face charges there, citing concerns about the prosecutorial decisions of Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg of Manhattan.
Bragg has gained international attention for his indictment of former President Donald Trump, as well as for his prosecutorial policies, which include the non-prosecution of certain misdemeanors and seeking of lower charges for certain violent offenses. On Wednesday, Republican County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced that her office would not honor an extradition request from New York City for a murder suspect due to Bragg’s policies. (RELATED: Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg Admits NYC Subway Crime Makes Him Nervous)
“Having observed the treatment of violent criminals in the New York area by the Manhattan DA there, Alvin Bragg, I think it’s safer to keep him here and in custody so that he cannot be out doing this to individuals in our state or county or in the United States,” Mitchell told reporters. “This is not aimed [at] the New York Police Department at all. I know they did a hard job, they did a good job, but we will not be agreeing to extradition. I’ve instructed my extradition attorneys not to agree to that. We’re going to keep him here.”
It’s great to see the @ManhattanDA finally take interest in violent crime. My job is to focus on the victims I was elected to protect. https://t.co/si5OE49RQK
— Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell (@Rachel1Mitchell) February 21, 2024
The suspect, Raad Noah Almansoori, age 26, allegedly murdered Denisse Oleas-Arancibia, at the SoHo 54 Hotel in Lower Manhattan on Feb. 8, for which he is wanted by police, there, according to NBC News. Almansoori was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona, on charges of allegedly stabbing a woman during a carjacking in Phoenix, Arizona, and as well as stabbing a McDonald’s employee in the women’s bathroom in Surprise, Arizona.
“It is deeply disturbing that D.A. Mitchell is playing political games in a murder investigation,” wrote Emma Tuttle, a spokesperson for Bragg’s office. “It is a slap in the face to them and to the victim in our case to refuse to allow us to seek justice and full accountability for a New Yorker’s death.”
Article IV, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution requires that persons who are “charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime” be extradited “to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime” and states may file suits in federal court to compel extradition of suspects under the Extradition Act. However, in the case of Taylor v. Taintor, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1873 ruled that a sending state, where it has charged the suspect, may complete its legal processes before extraditing the suspect.
Almansoori has reported been arrested 13 times in Maricopa County within the last three years and allegedly committed a criminal offense in Florida, according to Arizona’s Family News, a CBS affiliate.
Mitchell, who was elected to office in 2022, gained international prominence in 2018 after being hired by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to question Christine Blasey Ford — who had accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of childhood sexual assault — during a nationally televised hearing, which resulted in her being parodied on Saturday Night Live.
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