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IPFS News Link • Crime

EXCLUSIVE: New York bodega clerk wrongfully charged with murder for stabbing...

• https://www.dailymail.co, By MORGAN PHILLIPS

A bodega clerk, the mother of a homicide victim and an anti-crime activist will all testify at the Judiciary Committee's high-profile New York City hearing on Monday. 

Republicans are bringing in at least three witnesses to talk about crime in the Big Apple to paint the narrative that Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg is more focused on going after Donald Trump than crime in his own backyard. 

Jose Alba, a bodega worker who Bragg's office at first charged with murder when he stabbed a man who attacked him over a bag of chips, will give his testimony at the hearing. 

So will Madeline Brame, chair of the Victim Rights Council and the mother of a homicide victim and Jennifer Harrison, founder of Victims Rights NY. 

Alba, 62, was arrested and sent to Rikers Island for stabbing Austin Simon after the 35-year-old charged into the Harlem bodega where he worked and attacked him.

He at first faced second-degree murder charge for the incident that happened on July 1 at Blue Moon Deli. But video footage showed Simon attacking the deli worker before he pulled the knife in what appeared to be self defense. 

Bragg's office asked a judge to drop the charges on July 19 after facing intense backlash for going after Alba, including from Mayor Eric Adams.

The motion to dismiss stated that prosecutors 'have determined that we cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not justified in his use of deadly physical force.' 

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