You probably recall the story of Jose Alba, the bodega clerk in New York City who killed a maniac who jumped over his counter and attacked him. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg initially charged him with murder and had him locked up at Rikers Island before eventually dropping the charges and releasing him. He finally had his chance to fire back at Bragg on Monday and he took full advantage of it. Alba told the congressional committee investigating Bragg about the treatment he received at the hands of the DA’s office and the week he spent in prison while being unable to make bail. (Free Beacon)

Jose Alba, the New York City bodega clerk who faced a murder charge for defending himself last summer, told House Republicans Monday that Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg did not “investigate” his case fully and that police and prosecutors should “be aimed at people committing crime, not an innocent man like me.”

Alba killed a man in self-defense in July 2022, after the assailant jumped a counter and assaulted him. Bragg’s office initially sought to bring murder charges against him before eventually dropping them.

Alba’s testimony was particularly powerful because it highlights a less-often-reported aspect of Bragg’s failed leadership at the District Attorney’s office. The reason that Jose Alba was stuck in Rikers Island for a week was that his bail was set at $250,000 dollars. As he testified on Monday, he simply “couldn’t afford it” so he remained in jail. It’s worth noting that Bragg had originally asked the court to set bail at half a million dollars.

Keep in mind that all of this was taking place under the terms of the “bail reform” law in New York that Bragg loudly supports. Alba had no criminal record and there was video evidence of him being attacked before he defended himself. Alba’s attorney pointed out the large number of violent criminals that Bragg regularly puts back out on the streets with little or no bail. But when an actual victim was arrested, he threw the book at him.

Alba’s story came as a marked contrast to the testimony of Madeline Brame. She’s the mother of military veteran Hason Correa, who was murdered by four people in a gang assault on the streets of New York in 2018. Her husband was also severely wounded. Bragg’s office gave the four killers sentences so light that two of them are already back out on the streets. Brame told the committee that Bragg “isn’t fit to be a dog-catcher.”

The mom of a US Army veteran railed against Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg Thursday, calling the soft-on-crime prosecutor “not fit to be a dog catcher” for his handling of her son’s slaying.

Madeline Brame, who is set to be a witness at the upcoming House committee hearing on Bragg’s actions in Manhattan next week, told The Post that the DA went soft in the killing of vet Hason Correa within months of taking office last year.

“As soon as his office received it the whole case fell apart,” Brame said. “I would say to Alvin Bragg until he has to go to the morgue to identify his child’s dead body, or stand in the funeral parlor and lean over their caskets and see their child laying in the casket, he will never understand.

The hearing drew an important distinction between the way Bragg handles some cases as compared to others. If Bragg was just another Soros-backed DA who didn’t want to put anyone in jail, that would be bad enough. But he actually is willing to bring the hammer down on some defendants, providing they are innocent citizens who are wrongly accused of crimes. Career criminals get a pass, however.

I’m with Ms. Brame in agreeing that Alvin Bragg shouldn’t be a dog-catcher. I like dogs too much and he would probably just abuse them.