Man accused of ‘mutilating’ stranger in fatal NYC stabbing back on streets thanks to judge
A man accused of stabbing a stranger to death during a fight outside the Port Authority subway station last week is back on the streets after a Manhattan judge set a paltry $100,000 bail in the murder case, over the objections of prosecutors, The Post has learned.
Jesus Ramirez, 28, was freed from Rikers Island Saturday after having to float just 10 percent of a $100,000 partially secured bond for the caught-on-camera slaying of 49-year-old Guarionex Torres in Hell’s Kitchen, records show.
Ramirez was arraigned before Acting Supreme Court Justice Suzanne Adams earlier that day on charges of second-degree murder and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon in Torres’ death.
Officers had found Ramirez near the scene on Friday, shirtless and covered in his alleged victim’s blood, according to the criminal complaint against him and law enforcement sources.
“He attacked me first. I stabbed him,” Ramirez allegedly told officers, according to the complaint.
Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office requested that Ramirez be held behind bars without bail in the case — but Adams instead set the monetary bail.
Authorities said the brutal clash was set off when Ramirez and Torres apparently bumped into each other at West 44th Street and Eighth Avenue just before 1 a.m. on Friday.
Ramirez, who has no known criminal history, allegedly used a knuckle knife blade to slash and stab the unarmed Torres, according to the criminal complaint against him.
Torres was left with a gash from his right ear to his left cheek, cuts to his neck and arm, and a stab wound in his torso, the complaint states.
The victim, who was found face down in a pool of his own blood, had “parts of his body hanging off,” a source told The Post.
“[Ramirez] stabbed the guy to death, mutilated him with brass knuckles with a knife in the middle,” the source added. “Slashed the guy and hit all the organs. Had to know what he was doing.”
Sources have said that Torres had allegedly ridden up to Ramirez on a CitiBike, and that the two were then seen on surveillance footage exchanging words.
Ramirez allegedly lunged at Torres and stabbed him, sources said.
He fled on foot, leaving a mortally wounded Torres on the ground, according to the sources.
Police responded to two 911 calls on the attack, and later recovered the surveillance footage, according to cops and the complaint.
Cops found the knife in Ramirez’s pocket after arresting him, according to cops and sources.
Torres was rushed to Bellevue hospital where he was pronounced dead, cops said.
A spokesman for the Office of Court Administration said in a prepared statement that “many factors” go into a judge’s decision when setting bail, which under New York state law “is solely meant to ensure the defendant’s return to court. Nothing else.”
“Our criminal justice reform laws predispose against pretrial incarceration and give the arraigning judge narrow discretion, even on violent felony offences, while requiring them,” the statement said.
Torres has more than 30 prior arrests, police sources said.
Just two weeks ago, he was busted for swinging a hatchet at people near the Port Authority Bus Terminal, according to cops and the sources.
Ramirez is due back in court Aug. 31.
A woman who co-signed his bond is listed as an employee at Bright Horizons, a childcare provider, who came up with the $10,000 in cash to secure the bond, according to public records.
Ramirez’s defense attorney, Michael B. Schulman, didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Prior to her election to the bench in November 2017, Adams worked as a litigator in New York and federal courts for some 20 years, according to her official biography.
The justice previously received pushback from alleged victims in 2018 for a no-bail decision, where she allowed self-described schizophrenic Roy Rodriguez to be released after he was arrested for threatening to kill his downstairs neighbor with a brick.
