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Jaia Cruz, a 24-year-old repeat offender from New York City who pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing U.S. Postal Carrier Ray Hodge III during an argument in a Harlem sandwich shop in January will serve just 15 years as part of a plea deal from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office.
Hodge was 36 years old and had two children. His family had vehemently opposed the deal, relatives told Fox News Digital.
Cruz picked a fight with Hodge over who was first in line at the restaurant on Manhattan's Lenox Avenue, between West 118th and West 119th Streets, according to prosecutors.
MAILMAN MURDER SUSPECT WITH HISTORY OF VIOLENCE INDICTED IN BRAZEN LUNCH BREAK ATTACK
Jaia Cruz transported by the NYPD from the 28th Precinct after being charged with stabbing a USPS postal worker to death in a deli while he was taking a lunch break. (Kyle Mazza/Sipa/IMAGN)
They said in court Wednesday that several bystanders, including horrified customers and fellow postal carriers, tried to intervene in the argument before Cruz pulled out a knife.
She'll kill again. Why? Because she only got 15.
— Ada Rice, victim's mother"The victim threw a bottle at the defendant and then the victim attempted to disarm the defendant," prosecutors said. "During the physical altercation, [the] defendant stabbed the victim numerous times, resulting in his death."
Cruz walked home after the attack and was arrested later. Hodge was pronounced deceased at Harlem Hospital. He was a father of two whose colleagues at the USPS remembered him as a "great, kind soul" on social media.
USPS postal carrier Ray Hodge III delivers the mail in an undated family photo provided by his brother, Ed Rice. (Courtesy of Ed Rice)
Throughout the case, Cruz appeared in court wearing protective restraint mittens handcuffed in place.
Prosecutors reduced the second-degree murder charge to first-degree manslaughter in exchange for the guilty plea, telling the judge that Cruz, through an attorney, expressed remorse and wanted to take responsibility for the crime.
Cruz stabbed Hodge seven times, according to his mother, Ada Rice, then gloated about it.
MAILMAN'S FAMILY BREAKS SILENCE AFTER FATHER OF 2 KILLED ON LUNCH BREAK
US Postal Carrier Ray Hodge III in an undated family photo. Hodge was killed on his lunch break in January by a repeat offender who stabbed him seven times over an argument about who was first in line. (Stacy Rice/Facebook)
"She didn't show remorse initially in the beginning. She said she was happy when she was stabbing him," Rice told Fox News Digital. "She stabbed him. She kept stabbing him. She didn't stab him once, she stabbed him seven times. She said he was gonna be maggot food. She enjoyed it. She told another reporter she hates Black men."
Crime scene tape outside the Harlem sandwich shop where US mailman Ray Hodge III was killed in January. (Peter Gerber)
Based on that, she said she would have expected stiffer punishment. If convicted of the initial charge, Cruz could've faced a maximum of life in prison.
"I don't understand what the problem is," Rice said.
She said the plea deal sends a deadly message to repeat offenders.
"They're setting an example that it's OK to murder," she told Fox News Digital. "You will be home so quick, because even though it says on paper 15, they'll never do 15 years, so they won't think twice about it."
Fellow postal workers look on as police investigate the murder of their colleague Ray Hodge III during his lunch break in New York City. (Peter Gerber)
And they may not think twice about going back to prison after they get out, she added.
"She'll kill again. Why? Because she only got 15," she said. "She didn't have to do the whole 15. What's going to stop her?"
Cruz, who is transgender and previously went by the name Alvin, is expected to get 15 years behind bars and another five years of post-release supervision at a formal sentencing on May 29.
Rice said she hopes that federal prosecutors will take up the case, since her son was a U.S. government employee who died while on the job.
Cruz was initially charged with second-degree murder but took a plea deal for first-degree manslaughter. (Kyle Mazza/Sipa/IMAGN)
"The family didn’t see justice today in the courtroom," Hodge’s brother, Ed Rice, said Wednesday. "The DA asked what the family wanted twice, and we said, ‘No deal. Let Cruz do all the time needed for the premeditated murder of my brother.’"
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Hours after Cruz killed Hodge, the New York Post revealed that the suspected killer had "a history of knife violence" that included a knifepoint mugging, menacing another person with a box cutter and resisting arrest.
Bragg drew criticism for investing significant resources into prosecutions of President Trump as well as subway chokehold suspect Daniel Penny, the latter of whom was found not guilty after his defense said he placed a homeless madman in a headlock to protect other passengers.
But his office did not respond to questions about why Cruz's case didn't receive a similar level of resources.
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