Fearing that a violent criminal would simply be set free due to New York’s lax bail laws and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s propensity to release violent criminals while they await trial, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell is refusing to extradite suspected murderer Raad Almansoori to New York City.
Bragg has become infamous for downgrading felonies in the city since being elected DA in 2021. By one recent reckoning, he has downgraded an astonishing 60 percent of felony cases in New York over the past year. It’s simply too big a risk in Mitchell’s mind to send a potentially violent criminal back to Bragg’s New York.
“I know there’s been discussion about New York wanting [us] to extradite this individual,” Mitchell said on Wednesday. “This is not aimed at the New York Police Department at all. I know they did a hard job and they did a good job. But we will not be agreeing to extradition.”
“I’ve instructed my extradition attorneys not to agree to that,” Mitchell said. “We’re gonna keep [Almansoori] here. These are mandatory prison sentences. 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] keep him in custody so that he cannot be out doing this to individuals either in our state, county or anywhere in the United States.”
The 26-year-old Almansoori is currently being held without bail in Arizona, where he is suspected of the carjacking and stabbing of a woman on February 17 and slashing a McDonald’s employee on February 18. Prior to that, New York officials believe, Almansoori was in New York City, where he allegedly beat and strangled 38-year-old escort Denisse Oleas-Arancibia over a payment dispute.
The New York and Arizona offenses are not Almansoori’s only run-ins with law enforcement. The suspected murderer is also wanted in a Florida criminal case, in which he is free on bail.
Bragg’s office suggested that Mitchell might wish to clean up her own jurisdiction instead of casting aspersions on New York and Bragg.
“It is deeply disturbing that DA Mitchell is playing political games in a murder investigation,” Bragg spokeswoman Emily Tuttle said. “In Manhattan, we are serious about New Yorkers’ safety, which is why murders are down 24% and shootings are down 38% since D.A. Bragg took office.”
“New York’s murder rate is less than half that of Phoenix, Arizona, because of the hard work of the NYPD and all of our law enforcement partners,” Tuttle added. “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.”
Today on Fox News, Mitchell defended her decision, claiming a quick check of recent headlines shows just how dangerous New York’s laws and Bragg’s lax enforcement strategies can be.
“I’m putting the victims first and making sure that he stays in custody,” Mitchell told Fox & Friends.
“And again, this is not casting aspersions on NYPD, but … it was just a couple of weeks ago that some of the illegal immigrants that were in New York City who beat up on police officers were let go,” Mitchell continued. “They were flipping the camera off as they walked out of jail, and guess where they ended up? Four of them ended up in Maricopa County, and they had to be taken into custody here.”
Mitchell asserted that Almansoori might be extradited in the future, but he would need to face justice in Arizona first, where he faces up to 21 years in prison if convicted.
“Since we have serious offenses here, we have the right to keep him where he is,” the Arizona DA said. “So we’re going to do that, and I want to be very clear to the public, we’re not saying that he will never be prosecuted in New York for what he did, but we’re saying we’re going first. And that way, when we secure a prison sentence on him, that has to be honored when he is extradited to New York City.”
