Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Thursday accused Arizona prosecutors of committing a political “gift” by refusing to extradite a New York City murder suspect to their jurisdiction.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell on Wednesday told Arizona officials to extradite Raad Noan Almansouri, 26, who is wanted for the murder of Dennis Oleas-Aranchibia, 38, to New York. He said he had instructed them not to cooperate with the effort.
Mr Bragg accused Mr Mitchell of “plain old big politics and politics, plain and simple”.
“That has no place in our profession,” Bragg told reporters in New York City on Thursday. “It is deeply disturbing to me that a member of my profession, law enforcement, would choose to play politics with a murder case.”
Mitchell, a Republican, did not mention any specific incidents or complaints with Bragg, a Democrat.
“Alvin Bragg inspected the Manhattan DA's treatment of violent criminals in the New York area,” Mitchell said Wednesday. “I think it's safer to keep him here and detain him so he can't do this kind of thing to any individual in our state, county or anywhere in the United States.”
Al-Mansoori is being held without bail in Arizona on suspicion of stabbing two women.
Mitchell's representatives could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon. But earlier in the day, Mitchell appeared on Fox News Channel's “Fox & Friends” and argued that he was acting in the public interest by not simply extraditing al-Mansouri on murder charges.
“I will put the victim first and make sure he remains in custody,” Mitchell said.
Bragg said the ultimate decision on how al-Mansouri will end up in court will rest with the governors of New York and Arizona, both Democrats.
“He's right. The governors of each state are the ones who sign extradition requests,” said Anna G. Kominsky, a criminal law professor at New York Law School. She said, “It's the prosecutor who puts together the request and the necessary documents, but then it's the governor who signs it and says, 'This request is appropriate.'”
And Michael Neufeld, a veteran Arizona criminal and immigration lawyer, said he doesn't recall witnessing this type of extradition fight.
“I've never seen a county attorney oppose extradition for a crime more serious than this,” Neufeld said. “If one state's crime is murder and the other state's crime is not murder, the other state usually just condones it.”
Representatives for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.
Mitchell is a veteran of high-profile political battles, having previously worked as a member of the Senate Republican Party during the 2018 nomination of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
On her Maricopa County profile page, she touts her work on behalf of Republicans during the Kavanaugh hearings and says she “gained national prominence” for the bitter partisan battle.
