Repeat offenders in New York City keep being given chances to terrorize as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg spent much of his time prosecuting President Donald Trump.
From a man with at least 134 arrests to a manslaughter suspect receiving a light prison sentence, repeat offenders in New York City are getting chance after chance to go back out into the streets to break more laws, thanks to District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the state’s bail reform law.
In a “day one” memo to staff, Bragg directed his office to “reduce pretrial incarceration” unless in “very serious cases.” After taking office in 2021, Bragg had downgraded 52% of felony cases to misdemeanors, according to data released in November 2022 by his own office.
1. Clive Porter
A man with over 50 previous arrests was arrested after allegedly attacking four people on the same day.
Clive Porter, 33, was arrested on Wednesday after allegedly striking a 45-year-old man in the face, which made him fall onto subway tracks in Lower Manhattan.
Porter allegedly yelled “Asian f—” at the victim before running off, according to officials. According to The New York Post, authorities connected Porter to four attacks that took place earlier in the day. One of those attacks left a 72-year-old man with a broken nose.
He was charged with assault as a hate crime, reckless endangerment and harassment, according to the report.
Porter’s laundry list of criminal activity includes 61 felonies and 24 misdemeanors, The Post reported. Porter was also arrested on Oct. 14 after allegedly punching a victim in the face and threatening the person with a knife.
Alvin Bragg’s office recommended supervised release since the top charge, which was misdemeanor assault, isn’t eligible for bail.
2. Jaia Cruz
24-year-old Jaia Cruz pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter charges in the January fatal stabbing of U.S. Postal Carrier Ray Hodge III that happened during an argument.
Cruz is set to serve 15 years in prison after agreeing to a plea deal from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which also reduced a second-degree murder charge to first-degree manslaughter.
According to the New York Post, Cruz had a “history of knife violence” which included resisting arrest, menacing another person with a box cutter, and a knifepoint mugging.
Hodge’s mother, Ada Rice, said Cruz stabbed her son seven times.
“She didn’t show remorse initially in the beginning. She said she was happy when she was stabbing him,” Rice told Fox News Digital. “She stabbed him. She kept stabbing him. She didn’t stab him once, she stabbed him seven times. She said he was gonna be maggot food. She enjoyed it. She told another reporter she hates Black men.”
She said the lenient plea deal sends a message to other criminals.
“They’re setting an example that it’s OK to murder,” she told Fox News Digital. “You will be home so quick, because even though it says on paper 15, they’ll never do 15 years, so they won’t think twice about it.”
3. Michael Wilson
37-year-old Michael Wilson, who has racked up over 230 arrests, was arrested once again in June after he was allegedly riding between train cars and lied about his personal information when asked by officers, according to The Post.
In May, Wilson was arrested for allegedly smoking crack on a subway train, according to police.
Wilson was arrested in February for allegedly swiping a subway rider through a turnstile and received cash in exchange. When officers searched his body, they allegedly found six MetroCards.
Despite the lengthy rap sheet, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office elected not to prosecute Wilson “in the interest of justice.”
One of the felonies Wilson has been convicted of previously was violent, according to the report.
4. Harold Gooding
A man dubbed as “recidivist No. 1” by Democrat Mayor Eric Adams, Harold Gooding, who has at least 134 prior arrests for charges such as grand larceny, drug possession, armed robbery, burglary has repeatedly been released on bail.
In one instance, on March 28 after being released from Rikers, Gooding was accused of stealing 30 bottles of vitamins in Manhattan that were valued at $1,511, according to The Post.
In April, he was accused of stealing cleaning supplies and three pairs of glasses from the same store. He was charged with grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and two counts of petit larceny.
All the charges, however, weren’t bail-eligible due to the state’s 2019 no-bail law, sending Gooding back out onto the streets.
Without naming prosecutors, NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch in February harshly criticized district attorneys in the city.
“Before they can even finish that paperwork, their perp is back out on the street, immediately returned to the neighborhood and the people that they just victimized,” Tisch said. “It’s demoralizing, it’s unsustainable, and it defies common sense.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Bragg’s office for comment.
