(Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell last week pushed back against George Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in his effort to get a murder suspect extradited back to New York.
Mitchell made national headlines for saying this week that it would be “safer” to have him remain in Arizona and face trial there first before potentially sending him there.
The suspect in question is Raad Almansoori, who is wanted for a murder in SoHo earlier this month, but he’s being held in Arizona for allegedly stabbing two women in Maricopa County, one in Phoenix and one in Surprise, according to NBC News.
Mitchell’s fight with Bragg came amid the backdrop of several other high-profile cases in which Bragg and other New York officials have faced harsh criticism for letting illegal immigrants escape.
Many called for the DA to resign recently over his release of a gang of illegals who had beaten two cops in broad daylight in Times Square. Several later fled to California.
Meanwhile, Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal from Venezuela who had reportedly been released by border patrol in El Paso, then made his way to New York where he lived comfortably for more than a year, was arrested on Friday for murdering college student Laken Riley in Athens, Ga.
In an interview with the Center Square, Mitchell clarified the role she was playing in blocking the extradition process for Almansoori and responded to critics of her decision.
“I think that the media attention came not because of this. I think this was the vehicle for, it seems like building frustration,” the Republican official said.
“It is not a refusal to extradite,” Mitchell clarified. “This is not a, ‘No, not ever,’ this is a ‘Not yet.'”
She noted that when multiple jurisdictions are both seeking to prosecute a defendant for serious offenses, the one that has him in custody typically goes first, regardless of the degree of the offense.
“Now, if this was like a lower-level property crime might I consider letting him go, you know, be prosecuted on the homicide first—absolutely, I would consider it,” Mitchell said. “But that’s not our situation.” she added.
She also responded to comments from Bragg, a Democrat, accusing Mitchell of “old-fashioned grandstanding” and saying that this was a political move.
“It’s an interesting charge because I am doing exactly what is standard operating procedure, which is keeping it here, and I’m not the one that brought up extraditions,” she said.
“It was brought up in a New York press conference, and it came up in the press conference that I was in yesterday,” she continued. “And I was responding to that, so it was completely responsive on my part.”
Some of the concern surrounding the extradition related to bond policies, with Bragg having made known his position on releasing even serious offenders for little or no bail.
“One thing is if we were to let him go to another jurisdiction, that jurisdiction doesn’t necessarily have to honor our bond amount,” Mitchell said.
“Now, we’re holding him without bond. But other jurisdictions in the past in other cases have not honored Arizona’s bond and reduced it to such a degree that the person has gotten out of custody,” she continued. “That’s very different than if we send him having a conviction and having been sentenced to whatever years in prison—they have to honor that. And I don’t think people are picking up on that.”
Even after catching flak for refusing to charge the assailants who beat two NYPD officers, Bragg brazenly released one of the alleged offenders on $1 bail.
