Mother says Alvin Bragg's office treated her family 'like garbage' after son's murder
The mother of a homicide victim said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office treated her and her family like “garbage” as they sought justice for her veteran son's murder.
Madeline Brame, who serves as chairwoman of the Victims Rights Reform Council, testified before the House Judiciary Committee Field Hearing on Monday. She explained that her son, U.S. Army Sgt. Hason Correa, was “kicked, punched, stomped and stabbed nine times by four individuals he did not know nor had he done them any harm.” The attack, which took place in Harlem in 2018, led to Correa’s death.
“All four of these individuals were apprehended and all four charged with first-degree gang assault and second-degree murder,” she recalled. “When Alvin Bragg came into office, he was handed a strong, trial-ready murder case and gang assault case against all four of these individuals,” she recalled.
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Brame added, “As soon as he took office, the case immediately began to unravel. He completely dismissed gang assault and murder indictments against two of the defendants clearly on video participating in the brutal, savage slaughter of my son.”
The distraught mother detailed how Bragg — the prosecutor who indicted former President Donald Trump — dropped the charges against one of the perpetrators caught on video murdering her soon, Mary Saunders, and recharged her with “assault with a shoe and sentenced her to one year time served.” She expressed outrage that “this savage is walking the streets of Harlem like she didn’t just participate in the brutal slaughter of another human being.”
“If that’s not a threat to public safety, I don’t know what is,” Brame proclaimed. “She’s capable at any moment of snapping and attacking someone and holding them while someone else plunges a butcher knife into their body nine times and another person 12 times.”
Another perpetrator, Travis Stewart, had his charges reduced to “attempted gang assault” and received a sentence of seven years behind bars. She warned that Stewart “will be out in the next 18 months.”
“This is the type of criminal element that we have walking the streets of New York City on a daily basis. All types of criminal elements free to do what they want, when they want, however they want, to whomever they want with no consequences, no deterrence,” Brame continued.
In addition to taking issue with Bragg’s handling of crime in New York City, she maintained that his office “totally disrespected” her and her family. “We were treated like garbage,” she lamented.
After detailing how “billions of our hard-earned tax dollars are going to fund these organizations that are doing absolutely nothing to deter this crime,” Brame suggested that “not another dime of our federal tax dollars [should] be pumped into these organizations until they can produce some measurable outcomes of effectiveness of what they’re doing with our tax dollars to protect the public.”
Brame specifically singled out the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office: “If he’s receiving one penny of federal dollars, you need to pull that funding until he starts doing his damn job and prosecuting crime.”
Brame was one of several witnesses who testified as part of the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing titled “Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan,” which took place in New York City Monday. The purpose of the hearing was to “examine how Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s pro-crime, anti-victim policies have led to an increase in violent crime and a dangerous community for New York City residents.”
Bragg has become the subject of national attention following a Manhattan grand jury’s indictment of Trump on a series of charges related to “falsifying business records.” Conservatives have slammed the indictment as politically motivated, noting Trump’s status as the frontrunner in the polls for the Republican nomination for president in the 2024 presidential election.
Additionally, as indicated by the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee’s decision to hold a hearing on the matter, criticism of Bragg has focused on his approach to addressing violent crime. Since taking office in early 2022, Bragg has declined to prosecute certain violent felonies and implemented bail reform measures that have abolished pre-trial incarceration for most people arrested for crimes. Bragg’s critics have credited these measures with a rise in violent crime in New York City.
Brame’s organization, the Victims Rights Reform Council, was founded in honor of her son. Its website notes that Brame frequently stands in front of the New York City Courthouse “with her signs, and bullhorn demanding justice for the brutal crime that savagely took her son.” The Victims Rights Reform Council believes that “any and all victims of crime deserve a voice, and a seat at the table with all local and State leaders as they move to create additional policies that severely impact the victims of crime and their loved ones.”
Additionally, the organization subscribes to the idea that “Public Safety should never be POLITICAL.” Brame echoed this point of view in her remarks Monday, asserting that “We don’t give a damn about your politics.”
“We don’t care. It could be the man from the moon who’s running for president. Okay? As long as whoever’s in there stands for law and order and is going to return some civility and sanity to our city,” she concluded.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
