Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has finally dropped the controversial murder charge against bodega worker Jose Alba — with his office conceding Tuesday there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute the case that sparked widespread outrage.
The DA’s Office filed a motion in Manhattan Criminal Court to dismiss the case against 61-year-old Alba, who fatally stabbed an ex-con who attacked him behind the counter of a Hamilton Heights store on July 1.
The slay charges brought by Bragg’s office prompted an uproar, with Alba and his many backers — who ranged from Mayor Eric Adams to former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton — arguing his actions were clearly self-defense.
Following an investigation, prosecutors concluded they couldn’t prove that Alba “was not justified in his use of deadly physical force,” the motion said. Surveillance footage of the attack showed Alba being attacked by Austin Simon, 35, and even telling the assailant, “Papa, I don’t want a problem.’’
The decision to dismiss the second-degree murder rap came after The Post began highlighting Alba’s plight, which saw the hardworking employee initially held at Rikers Island on a $250,000 bond, before the amount was lowered.
“If it weren’t for the New York Post, Mr. Alba would still be in jail,” said Frank Garcia, chairman of the National Association of Latino State Chambers of Commerce.
During a brief hearing Tuesday, Judge Laurie Peterson officially tossed the case, allowing Alba to have his ankle monitor — a condition of his bail — removed a few hours later.
“I feel better because I don’t have it anymore,” Alba said of the monitor as he spoke briefly to reporters at his home.
Asked how he was feeling after the charges were dropped, Alba responded, “So-so.”
Francisco Marte, head of the Bodega and Small Business Association, said Alba was “very emotional” when he first learned the charges were being tossed.
“His voice broke when I told him,” Marte told The Post. “He was happy.”
Alba’s defense attorneys, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, said the father-of-three was just looking forward to moving on from the ordeal.
“Mr. Alba looks forward to moving about freely and spending time with his family,” his lawyers said in a statement.
The DA’s filing included surveillance images from inside the bodega that showed Alba being shoved by Simon in the moments before the worker stabbed the much younger man.
Footage also showed Alba allegedly being stabbed by Simon’s girlfriend while the worker was fending off and fatally slashing the ex-con. Simon’s girlfriend has not been charged.
The DA’s Office acknowledged in the motion that Alba could have claimed self-defense at trial — an argument the bodega worker had repeatedly made since his arrest.
“One potential defense is that Alba reasonably believed that Simon was about to use
deadly physical force,” the memo noted. “The law provides that a person may use deadly physical force to defend oneself if the person reasonably believes that another person is using or about to use deadly physical force.”
It continued: “Simon’s conduct in entering the store’s small, private area, throwing Alba against the wall to a place he could not escape, and grabbing him by the collar could inspire deep fear in an older and shorter man as to what might be in store next.
“This was also in the context of the girlfriend saying five minutes earlier that her boyfriend was going to ‘come down here right now and f–k you up.’”
The deadly ordeal unfolded after Alba and Simon’s girlfriend got into an argument over a bag of chips that she didn’t have enough money to buy, police said at the time. The girlfriend had run home to get Simon after claiming Alba had snatched the chips from her 10-year-old daughter when her debit card was declined.
The motion suggested Alba may have assumed he was about to be robbed when Simon stormed into the bodega 10 minutes later — and that Simon could have actually committed a crime by cornering the worker behind the counter.
“It is a crime in New York to use physical force to intentionally restrict a person’s movements by moving him from one place to another or by confining him,” the motion said.
“If Alba reasonably believed that Simon was committing or attempting to commit a burglary of an occupied building, then Alba was permitted to use deadly physical force upon Simon if Alba reasonably believed it to be necessary to prevent or terminate the commission of the burglary,” it said.
“After investigation, the District Attorney’s Office has concluded that a homicide case against Alba could not be proven at trial beyond a reasonable doubt,” the motion states.
Adams — who had previously stood up for Alba — on Tuesday called Bragg’s move the “right decision.”
“This happens sometimes in cases in the preliminary arrest, after review, decisions are made,” the mayor told reporters shortly after the charge was dismissed.
“I think in this case we had an innocent, hard working New Yorker that was doing his job and someone was extremely aggressive towards him,” Adams said. “I believe that after the DA’s review, the DA in my opinion, made the right decision.”
The owner of the bodega where Alba works also rejoiced over the DA’s decision, telling The Post, “I feel better – good.”
But Simon’s cousin, Candra Simon, said her family was disappointed no one would be held accountable over the fatal stabbing — and said that “everyone involved in this situation was wrong.”
“Alba was wrong for treating a child with no respect, that [girlfriend] was wrong for dragging my cousin into this situation, my cousin was wrong for going behind the counter,” she said.
“The fact remains that only one person, the only person who did not draw a weapon, is dead and no one has to answer for it.”
The cousin, who said she understood why the DA’s office dismissed the case, slammed Adams for his public comments backing Alba, saying: “He used his title and his influence to help sway public opinion.”
With the case now tossed, legal experts told The Post that Alba is now “home free” and can’t be charged again over the fatal stabbing.
“The case is over. There is no other agency that can bring charges against him,” said Mark Bederow, a defense attorney and former Manhattan prosecutor.
Daniel Bibb, another ex-Manhattan ADA, added, “They are saying that this case can’t be proven and, if that’s true, then that’s double jeopardy and no other state prosecutor could charge him.”
“No other DA in the city has jurisdiction and the attorney general’s office certainly doesn’t have jurisdiction,” Bibb said.
As outrage over Alba’s case gained momentum in recent weeks, demonstrators had gathered outside City Hall, and New York City bodega groups even called on the state to adopt a local version of Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law.
United Bodegas of America spokesman Fernando Mateo told The Post on Tuesday that he had faith the DA would “do the right thing.”
“He saw the judge and jury was the videotape. He did the right thing, I congratulate Alvin Bragg. He has proved people wrong,” Mateo said.
Meanwhile, GOP gubernatorial nominee Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Suffolk) slammed Bragg, saying Alba should never have been charged in the first place.
“After weeks of public pressure, Alvin Bragg finally came to the same conclusion we all did a long time ago — Jose Alba should’ve never been charged with murder,” Zeldin said in a statement. “Jose Alba was an innocent man acting in self-defense, and he’s now finally a free man.
“The reality that the video showed Alba’s innocence as clearly as it did made it all that much worse that Bragg charged Alba in the first place, sent him to Rikers Island with an open stab wound, demanded absurdly high bail, and refused to charge the person who attacked Alba.”
Queens Councilman Robert Holden called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to fire Bragg over the handling of Alba’s case.
“Finally doing the right thing and dropping the charges against a store clerk who was forced to defend himself, after weeks of horror for Mr. Alba and his family and outcry from the public and elected officials, is nothing to brag about,” Holden said in a statement.
“It’s too little, too late. He’s shown that he not only doesn’t care about victims of crime, but he will punish them. The ex-con’s girlfriend, who allegedly stabbed Mr. Alba, is the only one who should be charged. Governor Hochul must remove D.A. Bragg immediately.”
Additional reporting by Priscilla DeGregory, Desheania Andrews, Zach Williams and Tina Moore
