MANHATTAN: The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office cut a sweetheart deal with a career criminal that let him off with a slap on the wrist — leaving him free to slug a woman in a random attack last month, The Post has learned.
Marcus Wright, 37, was charged with grand larceny in April — but was allowed to plead down to misdemeanor petty larceny rap and walked out without any jail time, according to records and law enforcement sources.
Wright, who has 36 busts on his rap sheet, got away with a similar break in November — before Bragg took office in January — after a robbery at a Sephora near Union Square.
But in that case, he spent 60 days in jail after pleading guilty.
In the more recent case, a theft at a downtown boutique in April, Wright was allowed to walk free in a deal with prosecutors from District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office.
He was also busted in January on assault charges on Bragg’s watch, but the result of that case isn’t known as it was sealed.
Then last month, Wright allegedly walked up to a random woman in Chelsea, slugging her while she was on her mobile phone — and was again released without bail thanks to the state’s soft-on-crime laws.
Police sources slammed Bragg’s office for not prosecuting Wright on the more serious charges in the robbery cases.
“This kind of treatment is a total failure because you are not helping the criminal and innocent people are being victimized,” one frustrated Manhattan cop said.
Police sources slammed Bragg’s office for not prosecuting Wright on the more serious charges in the robbery cases.
“This kind of treatment is a total failure because you are not helping the criminal and innocent people are being victimized,” one frustrated Manhattan cop said.
The stunned victim looked up and “observed the defendant in front of her then walking away from her,” adding she suffered “redness, swelling to her face and substantial pain.”
However, the charges lodged against Wright in that case — third-degree assault and attempted assault, and harassment — are not eligible for bail under the state’s controversial 2019 bail reform measures, and he was allowed to walk while the case is pending.
Bragg has been under fire since taking over at the Manhattan DA’s office in January and announcing he would not seek prison time on a slew of charges and would downgrade felony charges in hordes of cases — including armed robbery and drug offenses. The embattled prosecutor later reversed some changes.
His office declined to comment on Wright’s cases on Thursday.
By Larry Celona and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon [New York Post]
