Rachel Mitchell (Maricopa County DA’s Office), Alvin Bragg (Manhattan DA’s Office), and Raad Almansori (Maricopa County DA’s Office)
One of Arizona’s top prosecutors has broken with typical legal protocol this week by refusing to extradite a 26-year-old man who is accused of beating a 38-year-old mother to death inside a New York City hotel room earlier this month.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, a staunch Republican who rose to office after winning a 2022 special election, on Wednesday publicly refused to send Raad Almansori back to New York to face murder charges in the brutal slaying of 38-year-old Denisse Oleas-Arancibia.
Mitchell was previously brought on by Republicans in the U.S. Senate to assist in the confirmation of Donald Trump-nominated Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and was a leader in the questioning of Christine Blasey Ford, who had credibly accused the soon-to-be justice of sexual assault decades before his confirmation.
Mitchell is claiming that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg — a prominent Democrat — and the prosecutors in his office were too lenient on accused murderers to be trusted with detaining Almansori.