Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg facing bipartisan calls to drop case against bodega clerk charged with murder
NEW YORK -- The case of a bodega clerk charged with murdering an ex-con who attacked him behind the counter is generating more controversy for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
A bipartisan group of City Council members is demanding the case be dropped, CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported Friday.
Prosecutors may have to go to the video tape to see what's on it and what's not in deciding how to handle the hot potato case of bodega clerk Jose Alba, who fatally stabbed a man who went behind the counter to menace him.
"Mr. Alba's attorney has said that off camera the person that came down the counter, his girlfriend, showed a knife and that that's why deadly physical force was needed," said Brian Wagner, a defense attorney and former prosecutor.
Wagner, who spent seven years as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn, told CBS2 the case will probably hang on whether Alba's decision to stab 37-year-old Austin Simon was proportionate to the threat.
"It'll come down to, does video surveillance show that and whether or not a jury believes that deadly physical force was needed because a knife off camera was shown," Wagner said.
Watch Kramer's full discussion with Wagner
The existence of the knife could also play a role on what charges Bragg eventually brings against Alba.
Bragg, who has a reputation as a progressive, soft-on-crime prosecutor, is really on the hot seat in this case. A bipartisan group of seven City Council members is demanding that he drop the case immediately.
"The fact that you are even prosecuting Mr. Alba reveals how your perverse sense of justice not only protects violent criminals, but actively seeks to destroy the lives of crime victims," the Council Members' statement said. "This approach to justice makes most New Yorkers think the city is on a self-destructive path to oblivion."
For the second day in a row, Mayor Eric Adams defended Alba, who opened his door a crack, but refused to speak with reporters on Friday.
"Far too many people are becoming victims of criminal actions of those who are repeated violators of the law and a hard-working person like that bodega employee was being attacked. We need to factor that in," Adams said.
A spokesperson for Bragg said, "We are continuing to review the evidence and the investigation is ongoing."
Wagner told CBS2 that, if it was his case as a DA, he would make a deal with Alba to plead to a lesser charge in exchange for a mild sentence, such a probation.
