Published Feb. 3, 2024, 9:49 a.m. ET
By Rich Calder and Matthew Sedacca
Manhattan DA Alvin was blasted for trying to throw the book at two New Yorkers who bought fake COVID-19 vaccine cards. REUTERS
A judge blasted Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for trying to throw the book at two New Yorkers who bought fake COVID-19 vaccine cards — despite routinely going easy on others charged with far more serious crimes.
In a ruling issued this week, state Supreme Court Justice Brendan T. Lantry dismissed felony charges against the pair, who were not publicly identified, calling the case overkill.
J.O., a nursing student, and R.V., an employee with the city Department of Environmental Protection, were among hundreds accused of buying fake vaccination cards from a New Jersey stripper, Jasmine Clifford.
The two were among just 16 people Bragg’s office “cherry-picked” to prosecute and charge with felony criminal possession of a forged instrument, the judge said.
Fourteen pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, but J.O. and R.V. moved to dismiss the charges, prompting the DA’s office to contest the effort — and sparking outrage from the jurist.
Bragg’s office “routinely — nearly daily — move[s] to dismiss significantly more serious counts or entire indictments” to avoid harsher penalties for previously convicted felons or to avoid jeopardizing people’s immigration status, the judge wrote in an opinion issued Tuesday.
“These motions submitted [by Bragg and his prosecutors] are made months or even years after the 45-day period has expired to dismiss . . . sexual assaults, drug sales, robbery, burglary, and other violent and non-violent serious felony offenses.”
City Council Minority Leader Joseph Borelli (R-Staten Island) cheered the judge, who is the former chairman of Staten Island’s Republican Party, while pointing out that one of the defendants got the forged card to maintain her nursing school enrollment only to get the jab anyway.
“This is what Alvin Bragg is — a clown,” Borelli told The Post. “Imagine prosecuting a scared woman for this, even though she didn’t even use the fake card, while at the same time letting violent perps go. I’m glad the judge called him out for the world to see.”
Since taking office in 2022, Bragg has come under attack for not seeking prison time for various charges and downgrading felony charges in a slew of cases, including armed robbery and drug offenses.
On Wednesday, the DA’s office declined to ask for bail for five migrant men who allegedly beat a pair of cops in Times Square.
Doug Cohen, a spokesman for the Manhattan DA, declined to address Lantry’s remarks, but said major crimes in Manhattan were down 5% overall in 2023, and during Bragg’s first two years in office, shootings were down 38% and homicides down 24%.