Jaia Cruz, a 24-year-old repetitive offender from New York City who pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing Rayhodge III of the US Post Office during a discussion at a Harlem sandwich shop in January, will serve just 15 years as part of a plea deal from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s Office.
Hodge was 36 years old and had two children. His family was vehemently opposed the deal, a relative told Fox News Digital.
Cruz chose to fight Hodge, who was the first in line at the restaurant. Lennox Avenue in Manhattan, Prosecutors say between West 118th and West 119th Avenue.
Postman murder suspect with a history of violence charged with a bold lunch break attack
Jaia Cruz was transported by the NYPD from the 28th District after being accused of stabbing a USPS postal worker in Deli while on lunch break. (Kyle Mazza/sipa/imagn)
They told court Wednesday that several bystanders, including horrifying clients and fellow mail carriers, had tried to intervene in the discussion before Cruz pulled out the knife.
She kills again. why? Because she only has 15.
“After the victim threw a bottle at the defendant, the victim tried to disarm the defendant,” the prosecutor said. “During a physical argument, [the] The defendant stabbed the victim multiple times, leading to his death. ”
Cruz went home after the attack He was later arrested. Hodge was declared to have passed away at Harlem Hospital. He was the father of two, and his USPS colleagues remembered him on social media as “a great and kind soul.”
USPS Postal Carrier Ray Hodge III will send an email with undated family photos provided by his brother Ed Rice. (Commentary by Ed Rice)
Throughout the case, Cruz appeared in court wearing protective restraint mittens handcuffed in place.
In exchange for a guilty plea, the prosecutor lowered the second-degree murder charge to a first-degree manslaughter charge, and said he wanted Cruz to express his repentance through his lawyer and be held responsible for the crime.
According to her mother, Ada Rice, Cruz stabbed Hodge seven times and groaned about it.
Mailman’s family breaks silence when two fathers were killed during lunch break
US postal worker Ray Hodge III in photos of a family without a date. Hodge was killed during lunch break in January by a repeatedly criminal who stabbed him seven times over a discussion of who was in the first line. (Stayce Rice/Facebook)
“She initially showed no regrets. She said she was happy when she stabbed him,” Rice told Fox News Digital. “She stabbed him. She kept stabbing him. She didn’t stab him once, she stabs him seven times. She told him he would become a maggot. She enjoyed it. She told another reporter she hated black men.”
A crime scene tape outside the Harlem sandwich shop found that US postman Rayhodge III was killed in January. (Peter Gerber)
Based on that, she said she would have expected a hard punishment. If convicted of the first charge, Cruz could have faced the biggest life in prison.
“I don’t know what the problem is,” Rice said.
She said the plea bargain will send fatal messages to repeat offenders.
“They give an example of how it’s okay to kill them,” she told Fox News Digital. “You’ll go home very quickly because despite it being written on paper 15, they never spend 15 years, so they’ll never think about it again.”
The suspect charged with fatal stab wounds of a postal worker at NYC Deli has a history of knife violence
A fellow postal worker watches as police investigate the murder of his colleague Ray Hodge III during lunch break in New York City. (Peter Gerber)
And they may never think about going outside and going back to prison again, she added.
“She’s going to kill her again. Why? She only got 15,” she said. “She didn’t have to do the whole 15. What would stop her?”
Transgender, formerly known as Alvin, Cruz is expected to get a five-year post-release director in his formal ruling on May 29th.
Rice said she hopes federal prosecutors will file a lawsuit, as her son was a US government employee who died while working.
Cruz was initially charged with second-degree murder, but entered into a plea bargain on first-degree manslaughter. (Kyle Mazza/sipa/imagn)
“The family didn’t see justice in court today,” Hodge’s brother Ed Rice said Wednesday. “Da asked what the family wanted twice, and we said, “There’s no deal. Let me always have Cruz needed for the planned murder of my brother.” ”
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A few hours after Cruise killed Hodge New York Post The suspicious murderer revealed that he had a “history of knife violence” including the robbery of knife points, and that he would resist arrest, threatening others with box cutters.
Bragg has sparked criticism for investing considerable resources in President Trump and the suspects of subway chokehold Daniel Penny. Daniel Penny is found not guilty after his defense attorney said he placed a homeless madman in Headlock to protect other passengers.
However, his office did not answer questions about why Cruz’s case did not receive similar levels of resources.
