Arizona prosecutor refuses to extradite suspect in NYC hotel slaying, saying Manhattan DA can't be trusted
An Arizona prosecutor said Wednesday that her office will not extradite the man accused of killing a woman in a New York City hotel, calling out Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's "treatment of violent criminals."
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell told reporters in Arizona that she's ordered her staff not to cooperate in any efforts to send Raad Noan Almansoori, 26, back to New York where he's wanted in connection to the slaying of Denisse Oleas-Arancibia, 38.
"This is not aimed the New York Police Department at all. I know they did a hard job, they did a good job, but we will not be agreeing to extradition," Mitchell said. "I've instructed my extradition attorneys not to agree to that. We're going to keep him here."
Almansoori is being held without bail in Arizona, where he's been accused of stabbing two women.
"Having observed the treatment of violent criminals in the New York area by the Manhattan DA there, Alvin Bragg," Mitchell said, "I think it's safer to keep him here and keep him in custody so that he cannot be out doing this to individuals either in our state, county or anywhere in the United States."
Emily Tuttle, a representative for Bragg, said it's "deeply disturbing that" Mitchell is "playing political games in a murder investigation."
The Arizona prosecutor's actions are offensive to the "NYPD and all of our law enforcement partners," Tuttle added.
"It is a slap in the face to them and to the victim in our case to refuse to allow us to seek justice and full accountability for a New Yorker’s death," Tuttle said in a statement.
The Manhattan DA's Office cited data that appeared to show murders being more common in Phoenix, the largest city in Maricopa County, as compared to New York City, in which Manhattan is one of five boroughs.
“In Manhattan, we are serious about New Yorkers’ safety,” Tuttle said. “New York’s murder rate is less than half that of Phoenix.”
There were 198 murders in Phoenix, with about 1.6 million residents, last year as opposed to 386 in New York City, where 8.3 million people live, in 2023, according records in both cities. Bragg's office says that equals a homicide rate, per 100,000 residents, of 11.6 for Phoenix and 5 for Manhattan.
Mitchell, a Republican, didn't cite any particular case or complaint she had with Bragg, a Democrat, who became Manhattan’s first Black district attorney in 2022 after he was elected in November 2021.
Mitchell is no stranger to high profile political battles, having been hired by Senate Republicans to lead the questioning in the Supreme Court nomination fight that ended with Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation in 2018.
On her Maricopa County profile page, Mitchell credits her work for the GOP in the highly publicized Kavanaugh hearings with helping her rise "to national prominence"
Bragg was elected on a progressive platform aimed at re-prioritizing what the District Attorney's Office would pursue and backing away from prosecuting some misdemeanors.
He and other progressive prosecutors have come under fire from traditional law enforcement groups.
Almansoori was arrested in the parking garage of a Scottsdale shopping mall after automated license plate readers traced him there, officials said.
"This gentlemen was going to continue this string of violence," Scottsdale Police Chief Jeff Walther said. "He was going to do so there, at the Scottsdale Fashion Square."
In the New York City slaying, Oleas-Arancibia was found dead in her room at the SoHo 54 Hotel in Manhattan on Feb. 8, the NYPD has said.
Officers were called to Room 1109 around 10:30 a.m. and found Oleas-Arancibia with a broken iron next to her, police said. The woman’s death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner, from blunt force trauma to the head, officials said.
In Arizona, Almansoori is accused of stabbing two women, one during a carjacking in Phoenix and the other, a McDonald’s employee, in the restaurant's women's room in Surprise, officials said.
