On February 8, a woman was found bludgeoned to death with an iron in a Manhattan hotel room.
Police announced this week that a 26-year-old man was arrested in Arizona on suspicion of stabbing another woman days after the New York murder. Manhattan prosecutors flew to Arizona to discuss reindicting the men.
Extradition will proceed as usual in most murder cases across the country. But on Wednesday, Arizona prosecutors refused, saying they did not believe Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg could be trusted to take him into custody.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said at a press conference Wednesday that her team is working with Bragg as her office seeks to indict Raad Almansouri for the murder of Dennis Oleas, 38. He said he would not cooperate with him. Arancibia.
Mitchell told reporters: “I have been observing the Manhattan DA's treatment of violent criminals in the New York area, and I believe it would be safer for Mr. Alvin Bragg to remain here and be detained without being able to leave.'' he said. We do this for individuals in our state, county, or anywhere in the United States. ”
The remark, which a spokesperson later tried to soften, thrust the local New York story into a national debate over politics and crime, with Mr. Bragg blaming former President Donald J. Trump for the presidential election. This was further agitated by the prosecution on charges of orchestrating the attack. Concealing hush money to a porn actress in order to cover up an affair story before the 2016 election.
Both prosecutors have national recognition, and Mitchell, a Republican, was nominated in 2018 to play a key role in the Senate confirmation hearings for one of Trump's Supreme Court nominees. Mr. Bragg, a Democrat, has become a lightning rod for complaints by Mr. Trump and his allies that he is being persecuted as he seeks a second term in the White House.
Emily Tuttle, a spokeswoman for Mr Bragg, said Mr Mitchell's comments were a serious insult.
“It is deeply disturbing that Prosecutor Mitchell is playing politics with this murder investigation,” Tuttle said in a statement. He also noted that murders and mass shootings have decreased since Mr. Bragg took office.
“New York City's homicide rate is less than half that of Phoenix, Arizona, thanks to the hard work of the NYPD and all of our law enforcement partners,” Tuttle said. “Our refusal to demand justice and full accountability for the deaths of New Yorkers is a slap in the face to them and to the victims in our cases.”
Since the start of his term in 2022, Mr. Bragg has drawn criticism for his handling of crime in the nation's most populous city. Police unions and Republican officials have complained that too many dangerous people are being held on bail pending trial, and that Mr. Bragg has not been able to prosecute them as aggressively as possible. But there was no indication that Mr. Bragg's office would not attempt to take the hotel murder suspect into custody.
Crime in Arizona was also serious.
Almansouri flew to Arizona after officials discovered Oleas Aranchibia's body in a room at the SoHo 54 Hotel on February 8, New York police officials said Wednesday.
Nine days after Oleas Aranchibia's body was discovered, Almansoori committed a carjacking in Phoenix and stabbed the woman who was driving, police said. Then, on February 18, Almansoori entered a McDonald's in Surprise, Arizona, dragged a woman into the bathroom and stabbed her multiple times, New York Police Department officials said. Mr. Almansouri was arrested while driving a stolen vehicle in Scottsdale, Arizona.
He has been in custody in Maricopa County ever since.
Mr. Mitchell's spokesperson said in an email after Wednesday's press conference that Mr. al-Mansouri will not be extradited. That's because the charges there are serious and state law requires them to be sentenced before being extradited.
Another spokeswoman, Jeanine L'Equier, said Mr. Bragg had not formally requested extradition and that Maricopa County prosecutors had not met with any of the Manhattan prosecutors.
Mr. Tuttle, a spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney, declined to say exactly what Mr. Bragg would do next, but said he would not relent.
Republican lawmakers regularly try to embarrass Mr. Bragg, who is scheduled to try Mr. Trump's criminal case next month.
After Trump was indicted in Manhattan last March in a hush-money case, prominent Republicans, including Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, focused on crime in New York City. A public hearing was held. They painted Mr. Bragg as a hypocrite who was more focused on his political campaign than his backyard misdeeds.
Mitchell became the county's top prosecutor in a special election in 2022 and is currently running for a second term. She blasts President Biden and big cities on her campaign website, claiming she is “turning a blind eye to rising crime.”
According to Rachel Mitchell's website, “Rachel Mitchell is a lifelong conservative and veteran prosecutor with a history of enforcing the rule of law, locking up criminals, and keeping communities safe.'' “Yes.”
Mitchell gained national attention for his relentless and probing questioning of Christine Blasey Ford on behalf of Republicans during the 2018 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. Ta.
Ford has accused Trump presidential candidate Kavanaugh of sexual assault decades ago, and the move to appoint Mitchell for questioning has left the Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee, all male, in a position of social anxiety. It was seen by some as a means of isolation from the public. Attack Mr. Ford.
Before that hearing, Mitchell had built a reputation for passionately pursuing cases such as sexual assault and child molestation, while lobbying for stronger laws regulating such crimes.
Her comments Wednesday about Mr. Bragg, seen by many in the party as a sworn enemy of the former president, could carry special weight in the state. Arizona and its Republican Party have been torn apart by a fight over false claims that Arizona's election was won by Joseph R. Biden Jr. due to fraud.
jesse mckinley Contributed to the report.