‘Lawlessness’: Calls Grow for Ouster of Bragg After Penny Prosecution

THE CENTER SQUARE—New York Republicans are calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to fire Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg following his failed prosecution of Daniel Penny over Jordan Neely’s chokehold death. 

On Monday, a 12-member Manhattan jury found the ex-Marine not guilty in a verdict that came after days of jury deliberations and courtroom wrangling. Penny was cleared of criminally negligent homicide in Neely’s death after a more serious manslaughter charge was dismissed last week because the jury was deadlocked.

But the decision by Bragg’s office to prosecute the case is drawing calls for him to resign or be removed from office, with critics arguing that the prosecution was politically motivated. 

“Alvin Bragg has failed in his responsibilities to enforce the law and keep New Yorkers safe. Sadly, he has engaged in political prosecutions on numerous cases, including once and future President Donald Trump, Daniel Penny, and Jose Alba,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., posted on social media. “He should be removed from office immediately.” [Editor’s note: Alba, then 61, was the Harlem bodega clerk who in July 2022 made international headlines when he fatally stabbed a violent customer after being attacked in a dispute over chips, the New York Post reported.]

New York City Councilman Bob Holden, a Queens Democrat and chair of the council’s Common Sense Caucus, said Bragg “demonstrates contempt for reality and common sense—pursuing heroes like Daniel Penny while allowing criminals to roam our streets.” 

“For the sake of New Yorkers, the governor must remove him,” Holden said in a statement. “This cannot continue.”

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman called Penny a “hero” and praised the 12-member jury for seeing through “the political nonsense” to find him not guilty. 

Bragg hasn’t addressed the calls for him to resign, but issued a statement after the verdict saying his office simply “followed the facts and the evidence” in the case and accepted the jury’s decision.

But the criticism of Bragg echoed far beyond New York City, with Republican lawmakers from other states weighing in on the controversial prosecutor’s tenure, including his criminal prosecution of Trump, which resulted in his conviction on 34 felony charges. 

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Fox Business on Sunday that he wants the incoming Trump administration’s Department of Justice to investigate “civil rights abuses” against Penny by the DA’s office to “hold New York accountable.”

“You can’t do this to American heroes,” Roy said. “The fact that an American jury stood against the crazy, tyrannical lawlessness of the New York prosecutor’s office, and Alvin Bragg, and stood up and said that this man, this American hero, should be let free. God bless. That means things are heading in the right direction.”

To be sure, Bragg has long been the target of Republicans and other critics who argue that he has taken a soft-on-crime approach and selectively prosecuted high-profile cases to win headlines. 

However, New York City Mayor Eric Adams bristled at the suggestion that Hochul should use her executive powers to remove Bragg from office, noting that Bragg was elected by the city’s voters.

“The people voted for the district attorney,” Adams told reporters. “We have a process, and I am totally against using mechanisms to overstep the boundaries of the electeds.”

Originally published by The Center Square

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