Adams Opposes Stand-Your-Ground Laws Despite Growing Support for Bodega Employee Charged with Murder

Despite a recent groundswell of support for “stand-your-ground” laws in New York, Mayor Adams is standing firm in his opposition to New Yorker’s right to self defense.For more than a decade — dating back to his days in the state senate — Mr. Adams has been a critic of such laws, which protect persons who use force in self-defense. Following a stabbing in a Manhattan bodega earlier this month, however, many New Yorkers — including prominent Republican politicians and bodega employees — are calling for “stand-your-ground” laws in the Empire State. A 61-year-old bodega worker, Jose Alba, is charged with second-degree murder for allegedly stabbing to death 35-year-old Austin Simon. Mr. Alba is claiming self-defense. The unarmed Simon, an ex-convict, reportedly crossed the counter and cornered Mr. Alba after his girlfriend’s electronic benefits card was declined on July 1.At his arraignment on July 2, Mr. Alba’s bail was set at $250,000. He spent six days on Rikers Island. After his story began to circulate on the internet, drawing an outpour of sympathy and support, his bail was lowered, and he was permitted to leave Rikers by July 7.Now Mr. Alba’s supporters are turning their attention to New York’s self-defense laws. They argue that he should not be facing criminal charges, but New York’s murky self-defense laws require a high bar for self defense.Existing laws impose a “duty to retreat” on threatened individuals before they can resort to the use of force in self defense. The only exception is at home, where one can legally protect one’s own property.“What Jose Alba did was stand his ground,” a spokesman for the United Bodegas of America, Fernando Mateo, said. “And that’s the only reason why he is alive today. If he did not stand his ground, he would have been dead.”Mr. Adams has expressed sympathy for Mr. Alba, but he has not advocated for reducing or dismissing the second-degree murder charges, or for stand-your-ground legislation that potentially would have legally justified Mr. Alba’s actions.“My heart goes out for this hardworking, honest New Yorker that was doing his job in his place of business, where a person came in and went behind the counter and attacked him,” the mayor said last week. He declined to criticize the district attorney’s office for prosecuting Mr. Alba on these charges, however. “The DA has his job,” Mr. Adams said. “ I have my job as the mayor of the city of New York, as the mayor of the city of New York, I support hard-working, innocent people that are doing their job, and I saw him as a hard-working innocent New Yorker that a person went behind the counter and attacked.”His office also voiced opposition to stand-your-ground legislation. “On stand your ground, the NYPD has been entrusted to protect the people of New York City, and that is who the mayor believes should continue to defend New Yorkers every day,” a representative from his office, Fabien Levy, said.As a state senator, Mr. Adams was adamantly opposed to “stand-your-ground” legislation when a bill was presented in the state senate.In 2012, Mr. Adams led the fight against a stand-your-ground bill sponsored by four Republican state senators that would have eliminated the duty to retreat from New York’s self-defense law. The bill also sought to justify the use of “physical force” in defense of persons, premises, or vehicles when a situation presented “a reasonable fear of death or great bodily harm.”Mr. Adams called the bill “dangerous.” “In far too many cases, ‘stand your ground’ has been cited in many questionable situations where it is obviously unwarranted as self defense,” Mr. Adams wrote on a petition he organized in opposition to the bill. Mr. Adams was particularly skeptical of the standards for “reasonable fear.” Individuals could use deadly force and “be found justified and immune from criminal or civil forces” even if their lives were not truly in jeopardy, he argued.He cited the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin at Sanford, Florida, which occurred just one month after the bill was introduced in committee. In March 2012, the Sanford police department said it didn’t have the legal grounds to arrest Martin’s shooter, George Zimmerman, because of Florida’s stand-your-ground laws, under which Mr. Zimmerman’s actions were justified according to the department.As part of his campaign against stand-your-ground, Mr. Adams organized an event with the tagline “No Trayvon Martin Tragedies in New York State.”Ultimately, a special prosecutor charged Mr. Zimmerman with second-degree murder and manslaughter. He was found not guilty of both charges at trial.The bill that Mr. Adams opposed never left committee. A new stand-your-ground bill was introduced in Albany earlier this year by state Senator George Borrello, but it too is unlikely to make it out of committee in the Democratic-held legislature.

Adams Opposes Stand-Your-Ground Laws Despite Growing Support for Bodega Employee Charged with Murder

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