Manhattan prosecutors on Monday ordered an Arizona judge to send back to the Big Apple a career criminal facing murder charges in the brutal murder of a Queens mother in a SoHo hotel room, over the objections of Phoenix prosecutors. try to persuade.
The extradition of 26-year-old Raad al-Mansouri, who also faces attempted murder charges in Arizona, has become a political battle between New York City prosecutors and Republican Maricopa County prosecutors.
After weeks of legal wrangling, a decision will be made at a hearing in Phoenix Superior Court on Monday afternoon, the county attorney’s office told the Post.
Maricopa Prosecutor Rachel Mitchell fired the first salvo after Almansoori was arrested in Scottsdale last month and charged with carjacking one woman and attacking another at a local McDonald’s. I did it. He told reporters he did not trust Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to keep the suspect locked up.
“I have instructed my extradition attorney not to agree to this,” she said on February 19. These are mandatory prison sentences. Alvin Bragg, I’ve watched the Manhattan DA’s treatment of violent criminals in the New York area, and I think it’s safer to keep him here. ”
Michel, who was elected in 2022, later said she would consider extraditing al-Mansoori to Manhattan, but only after her office prosecutes suspects in pending cases in her jurisdiction.
Al-Mansoori is the main suspect in the beating death of Dennis Oleas Aranchibia, 38, at the SoHo 54 Hotel on February 7, when he left the scene wearing the victim’s pink tights. , who reportedly jumped on a plane to Arizona.
The large suspect was arrested in the Grand Canyon State on February 18th and later charged with attempted murder, assault and sexual assault for the alleged crime, which lasted two days.
But Mr. Bragg asked that Mr. Almansouri be extradited to New York to face more serious murder charges.
At a subsequent press conference, Mr. Bragg accused Mr. Mitchell of “simple, old-fashioned bigotry and politics.”
“It is deeply disturbing to me that a member of my profession, a member of law enforcement, has chosen to play politics with a murder case,” he said on February 22. “The conversation should be about the victim, the victim’s family”: That’s what we’re doing in Manhattan. ”
He said interstate extradition proceedings are part of common courtesy and are usually resolved over the phone, with homicide cases being prioritized.
“What I would like to see is regular professional discussions about the basics of legal administration,” he added. “That’s what we have to do.”
He noted that the Big Apple’s homicide rate is less than half that of Phoenix.
Al-Mansoori remains in Arizona and has not been formally charged in the Soho killings.
Police said the suspect confessed to the murder when he was arrested.
New York City police said Oleas Aranchibia, who worked as a bodyguard, had booked a date with Almansoori when he got into an argument with the murder suspect over time payments, leading to the fatal shooting.
Prosecutors said Al-Mansoori later told police that he had tried to strangle the Queen couple’s mother before bludgeoning her to death, and that the mother complained that she “just wouldn’t die.”
Goebel said the man strangled her, tried to break her neck, stomped on her head several times and then put a sock over her head to suffocate her. According to the Arizona Central.
After the brutal attack, al-Mansoori flew to Arizona, where he was allegedly arrested for the assault.
