Bethany Roberts, FISM News
[elfsight_social_share_buttons id=”1″]
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg dropped the murder charges against Jose Alba on Tuesday after a public outcry that the bodega employee was punished for merely defending himself.
The DA’s office did not admit any wrong in charging Alba, but rather stated there was not enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the killing was not in self-defense.
The DA faced serious backlash from the community after jailing Alba and charging him with fatally stabbing 35-year-old Austin Simon, who attacked Alba inside a Hamilton Heights bodega on July 1. Alba spent five days at Riker’s Island before making bail.
“Jose Alba should never have been charged and sent to Rikers Island in the first place. This was a clear-cut case of an innocent man acting in self-defense,” Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican candidate for governor, said. “Thankfully, security cameras captured the entire incident on video or Alba could very well still be facing the murder charge today.”
Prosecutors said Alba had two strong self-defense arguments even though Simon was not armed: he feared Simon might kill him and believed Simon was committing a burglary by stepping behind the counter.
Alba had offended Simon’s girlfriend by taking a snack away from her daughter that she had attempted to buy. After her card was declined, she threatened Alba, saying that she would have her boyfriend handle him.
Minutes later, Simon came to the store and entered the small, employees-only area behind the counter. He proceeded to shove Alba against a wall of shelving, grabbing him by the collar and lifting him out of a chair to force him out of the employees-only area, prosecutors said. He said he wanted Alba to apologize to the girl and to come outside to fight him.
“The People have determined that we cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not justified in his use of deadly physical force,” Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sigall said in a motion filed in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Alba has said little regarding the case, but he recently showed CBS2 his injuries, from when Simon’s girlfriend allegedly stabbed him during the fight. Alba’s daughter translated a comment from him.
“He was put in a position where he couldn’t tell how it was going to end. He was just defending his life,” she said.
Simon’s cousin, Candra Simon, said her family is saddened by the lack of accountability for the fatal stabbing, though she also said, “everyone involved in this situation was wrong.”
“Alba was wrong for treating a child with no respect, that [girlfriend] was wrong for dragging my cousin into this situation, my cousin was wrong for going behind the counter,” Candra said.
The girlfriend has not been charged with a crime. A spokesman for Bragg said prosecutors are not able to prove she wasn’t acting in self-defense as well. He also said they believe the knife she used was small enough to be considered legal.
Ron McMillan, a close friend of Simon’s, texted a NY Daily News reporter that he did not agree with that decision.
“Somebody needs to be accountable. If not the clerk the girl who called him,” wrote McMillan. “When u call ur friend to defend u or to commit a crime and your friend gets killed the person who calls him gets charged.”
The general consensus, however, is that justice won in this incident, but work needs to be done to prevent a rash of violence that has plagued New York City.
“While today’s news that charges will be dropped against Mr. Alba is a big victory for justice, what our city desperately needs is DA Bragg to charge criminals appropriately to prevent residents from having to resort to self-defense,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams also voiced his support of the decision to drop charges.
“I think in this case we had an innocent, hard-working New Yorker that was doing his job and someone was extremely aggressive towards him, said Adams. “And I believe after the DA’s review, the DA, in my opinion, made the right decision.”