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On Tuesday, a Bodega worker in New York City was withdrawn for being arrested for the killing of a man seen in a surveillance video that first came behind a cashier’s desk and attacked an employee.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office faced severe criticism for indicting Jose Alba earlier this month, despite footage suggesting that the deadly puncture wound was justified as self-defense.
Jennifer Cigar, assistant district attorney under Bragg, filed a motion to dismiss the second murder charge against Aruba on Tuesday morning and provided a copy to his lawyer, Michelle Villasener Grant.
Fox News confirmed that the judge had dismissed the charges against Aruba by Tuesday afternoon.
Bodega workers in Manhattan, charged with murder, wanted to avoid conflict, a video show
“As a result of the investigation, the people have determined that they cannot prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant was not justified in using deadly physical force. Therefore, the people are grand jury. We will not present the case to the jury. This will act to dismiss the complaint, as stated in the attached memorandum, “Brag’s office wrote in a court document obtained by Fox News.
According to court documents, Aruba repeatedly stabbed Austin Simon around 11:00 pm on July 1st, behind the counter at the Blue Moon convenience store on Broadway 3422 in Manhattan.
The district attorney admitted on Tuesday that “death arose from a physical conflict initiated by Simon because he believed that Aruba had treated Simon’s girlfriend’s 10-year-old daughter harshly.”
Aruba was pulling out of her daughter’s hand a snack that her girlfriend couldn’t buy due to a malfunction of her electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card.
The girlfriend yelled at the clerk and said her boyfriend would return to “f *** you up”.
A few minutes later, Simon came to the store, entered a small employee-only area behind the counter, pressed Aruba against the wall of the shelf, grabbed the collar, lifted it from the chair, and kicked it out of the employee-the only area, The prosecutor said. He apologized to Aruba for the girl and asked her to go out to fight him.
“I don’t want a problem, daddy,” Aruba is asked in an audio recording talking to Simon.
The prosecution said Simon grabbed a knife from the shelf next to the counter and stabbed Simon repeatedly, struggling to push him out with a collar.
Simon was later sentenced to death in the hospital. The coroner said he had been injured by six sharp forces, including one wound that was stabbed on the left side of his neck that injured the internal jugular vein.
Aruba said Simon’s girlfriend also attacked him. According to court documents, Aruba is 61 years old and 5 feet 7 inches tall, while Simon is 35 years old and has fallen 6 feet.
According to Aruba’s explanation to police and surveillance videos, Simon saw a utility knife in his right front shorts, but did not show it at any point during the conflict.
Simon was reportedly released on parole for assaulting police officers during a fatal incident. Aruba was arrested and detained on bail of $ 250,000 on Rikers Island, a notorious prison in New York City. This is half of the $ 500,000 requested by Bragg’s office at the hearing. Aruba was later released after his bail package was reduced to $ 50,000 before the murder charges were finally withdrawn on Tuesday.
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The District Attorney’s Office has quoted state law that narrowly defines situations where deadly physical forces such as murder are “justified, not criminal.”
If the defendant raises a justification for defense, the prosecutor, not the defendant, must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant was not justified in the use of deadly physical force. Two possible different reasons are that Simon believes he is trying to use a deadly physical force against him, or that Simon has invaded behind the Bodega counter with the intention of committing a crime, and Aruba. The use of physical force was to prevent or terminate robbery. ..
Shelly Xu from Fox News contributed to this report.