Arizona prosecutors on Wednesday criticized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's “treatment of violent criminals” and announced they would not extradite a man accused of killing a woman in a New York City hotel.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell told reporters in Arizona that efforts are being made to extradite Raad Noan Almansouri, 26, wanted for the murder of Dennis Oleas-Aranchibia, 38, to New York. He said he ordered his staff not to cooperate.
“This is in no way aimed at the New York City Police Department. We know they have done a hard job, we know they have done a good job, but we do not agree with extradition,” Mitchell said. Stated. “I have instructed the extradition attorney not to agree to this. We are going to keep him here.”
Al-Mansoori is being held without bail in Arizona on suspicion of stabbing two women.
“Having watched the Manhattan DA's treatment of violent criminals in the New York area, it's safer to keep him here and detain him so he can't do something like this to an individual,” Mitchell said. I think so.'' in our state, county, or anywhere in the United States. ”
Mr Bragg's lawyer, Emily Tuttle, said it was “deeply concerning” that Mr Mitchell was “playing politics with the murder investigation”.
The Arizona prosecutor's actions are distasteful to “the NYPD and all of our law enforcement partners,” Tuttle added.
“Our refusal to demand justice and full accountability for the deaths of these New Yorkers is a slap in the face to them and to the victims in this case,” Tuttle said in a statement.
The Manhattan Prosecutor's Office cited data showing homicides occur more frequently in Phoenix, Maricopa County's largest city, compared to New York City, of which Manhattan is one of the five boroughs.
“In Manhattan, we take the safety of New Yorkers seriously,” Tuttle said. “New York's murder rate is less than half that of Phoenix.”
Phoenix, a city of about 1.6 million people, had 198 murders last year, compared to 386 in New York City, a city of 8.3 million, in 2023, according to records from both cities. That equates to a murder rate of 11.6 per 100,000 residents in Phoenix and 5 in Manhattan, Bragg's office said.
Mr. Mitchell, a Republican, did not mention any specific incidents or complaints with Mr. Bragg, a Democrat who was elected in November 2021 and became Manhattan's first black district attorney in 2022.
Mitchell is no stranger to high-profile political battles, having been hired by Senate Republicans to lead questioning in the Supreme Court nomination battle that ended with Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation in 2018.
On his Maricopa County profile page, Mitchell credits the Republican Party's performance in the highly publicized Kavanaugh hearings with helping him become “nationally known.”
Bragg was elected on a progressive platform aimed at reprioritizing the district attorney's office and moving away from prosecuting some misdemeanors.
He and other progressive prosecutors have faced criticism from traditional law enforcement groups.
Officials said Al-Mansouri was tracked by an automated license plate reader into the parking lot of a Scottsdale shopping mall, where he was arrested.
“These gentlemen intended to continue this cycle of violence,” said Scottsdale Police Chief Jeff Walther. “He was going to do it at Scottsdale Fashion Square.”
In the New York City homicide case, Oleas Aranchibia was found dead in his room at the Soho 54 Hotel in Manhattan on February 8, the New York City Police Department announced.
According to police, officers were called to Room 1109 around 10:30 a.m. and found Oleas Aranchibia with a broken iron next to her. The woman's death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner due to blunt force trauma to her head, officials said.
In Arizona, al-Mansouri is accused of stabbing two women during a carjacking in Phoenix, and a third man is accused of stabbing a McDonald's employee in the women's restroom of a restaurant in Surprise. announced by the authorities.
