The email for this alert was deactivated after DA Bragg dropped the murder charge against Jose Alba.

Soros backed Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg is charging convenience store owner Jose Alba with second degree murder of Austin Simon.  Simon attacked Jose Alba in Alba’s store.  Alba defended himself with a box cutting knife that resulted in fatal injuries to Austin Simon.

Washington Free Beacon published an article titled Manhattan’s Soros DA Throws the Book at Bodega Worker Attacked by Violent Criminal.  Alvin Bragg's office criminalizes self-defense as career criminals run rampant across NYC.  The article reports:  

George Soros-backed Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg (D.) is throwing the book at a middle-aged bodega employee who defended himself during a deadly assault in Harlem, an unprecedented move for an office that has abandoned customary bail, charging, and sentencing guidelines for many criminals.

The Manhattan district attorney's office initially requested $500,000 bail for Alba, but a judge struck that down as excessive. The Soros prosecutor dropped it again on Thursday to $50,000 following public outcry over the case, but is retaining a charge for murder.
Soros in 2021 donated more than $1 million to Bragg's campaign, pushing Bragg through a heated Democratic primary with eight other candidates. The contribution is of a piece with the more than $40 million the Democratic megadonor has contributed to place dozens of liberal prosecutors in half of America's largest jurisdictions, a Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LELDF) report found. Many are now in the grip of a crime wave.

"It is clear that social justice prosecutors, including Alvin Bragg, are only interested in prosecuting police and others forced to defend themselves against violent criminals," LELDF president Jason Johnson told the Washington Free Beacon. "By upending the justice system these prosecutors are inflicting chaos on the cities they swore to protect. It is urgent that voters wake up and permanently end this failed experiment."

After Simon's girlfriend last week allegedly stabbed Alba, Simon lunged behind the counter. A fight ensued, and Alba, who according to his family was afraid for his life, reached for a boxcutting knife and turned it on Simon to subdue him. The 35-year-old ex-convict died later at the hospital. Alba's daughter told the New York Post on Wednesday, "It was either him or the guy at the moment."

Simon's girlfriend pulled a knife from her purse and stabbed Alba after her debit card was declined, said Michelle Villasenor-Grant, the bodega employee's attorney. The knife-wielding girlfriend ran out of the store to grab Simon and bring him back after Alba refused to let her purchase some chips. Bragg's office has not charged her.

"It would not be that surprising that someone thinks that harm is going to come to them or that they are going to be robbed, particularly if the woman that you just got into a verbal argument with is also with this person, and ended up taking her own knife out of a purse and stabbing my client," Villasenor-Grant said on Saturday at an arraignment hearing.

Alba is a native of the Dominican Republic and became a U.S. citizen 14 years ago. He may be released on bail as soon as Saturday.
Simon's criminal history includes charges of assault, robbery, and domestic violence.  

New York City mayor Eric Adams (D.) on Thursday said Alba did not break the law when he acted in self-defense during the attack.  "I saw a worker here inside the store following the law and he should not have been approached in the manner he was approached," Adams said. "It's time for New Yorkers and Americans to stand up for people who follow the law."

Bragg's office charged 51-year-old Jose Alba with second-degree murder and was holding him on $250,000 bail at Rikers Island after a struggle last weekend over a bag of chips ended with the death of Austin Simon, a man with a lengthy criminal record who was on parole for assaulting a police officer. The decision to charge Alba with murder and set his bail so high is at odds with many cases the Manhattan office has handled. Last week, the mother of a slain Army veteran laid into a Bragg attorney in court, accusing the prosecutor of a miscarriage of justice after one of the assailants involved with the killing got just a seven-year prison sentence. Bragg concealed information from a court in a January assault and robbery case, in which a man who robbed a T.J. Maxx with a pair of scissors was only charged with a misdemeanor.

Bragg in March set no bail for and freed an offender with a long rap sheet who was charged with beating a 67-year-old man to death. In the past two months, he has twice released offenders before trial who have gone on to be charged with murder. One was released from jail the day before he struck. In another case, Bragg twice freed a gang member without bail, even though the gang member was charged for a series of stabbings.

Voters in November elected Bragg, who was raised in Harlem, following a campaign that pledged to seek prosecutorial leniency for many offenders and reduce incarceration. When Bragg ascended to office in January, he told his prosecutors in a memo to avoid prison sentences for most felony cases except under "extraordinary circumstances."

This video shows Simon attacking Alba.  New York Post

New York Post reports Alba is finally home after a judge reduced his bail.   However, he still faces Bragg’s second degree murder charges.

New York Post reports NYC pols demand DA Alvin Bragg drop Jose Alba’s bodega murder charge

Florida Family Association has prepared an email for you to express discontent to DA Alvin Bragg and some of his staff for charging Jose Alba with second degree murder for clearly defending himself against a violent habitual criminal.

To send your email, please click the following link, enter your name and email address then click the "Send Your Message" button. You may also edit the subject or message text if you wish.

The email for this alert was deactivated after DA Bragg dropped the murder charge against Jose Alba.

Alvin Bragg, District Attorney
bragga@dany.nyc.gov

Meg Reiss, Chief Assistant District Attorney
reissm@dany.nyc.gov

Lisa DelPizzo, Chief of the Trial Division
delpizzod@dany.nyc.gov

Susan Hoffinger
hoffingers@dany.nyc.gov