A notoriously lenient Manhattan judge cut loose a teen gangbanger on an attempted murder case — despite admitting he could go on the lam, The Post has learned.
Kalifa Quattara, 18, had already caught a break on a botched Brooklyn gun case where he was wrongly treated as a minor, even before he got yet another break from soft-on-crime Manhattan Judge Valentina Morales last week.
Now Quattara, with two open felonies in two boroughs, is back on the streets with electronic monitoring, according to court records.
“The ankle bracelet isn’t foolproof… [Morales] is overestimating what the bracelet does and doesn’t do,” one law enforcement source said Thursday.
“On a second gun arrest, it doesn’t appear restrictive enough.”
Quattara, a reputed member of the “Up the Hill” street gang, was last nabbed by cops with a loaded gun on April 19 and admitted that he used the same gun in a caught-on-video shootout with rival gangs members nine days earlier, court records show.
No one was struck by the bullets, the records show.
He was hauled before Morales on April 21 on attempted murder, reckless endangerment, and gun charges, with prosecutors asking that the troublesome teen be held without bail at Rikers Island.
“The defendant is no stranger to firearms,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney William Salter told the judge, according to a transcript of Quattara’s arraignment before Morales. “It is clear from the video evidence that the exchange of gunfire by the defendant was in retaliation for the previous encounter on Madison and Rutgers Street on April 11.”
He noted that Quattara was already out without bail on the Brooklyn gun case.
“It is clear that the defendant does not adhere to the court rulings or orders, as he was advised on his pending matter to refrain from unlawful conduct,” Salter said.
He asked Morales that if she did choose to set bail, it should be $150,000 cash or a $450,000 bond.
Quattara’s lawyer, Legal Aid attorney Rebecca Heinsen, argued that he had no convictions on his record — and described him as a dutiful high school student and basketball player.
Heinsen asked for $5,000 bail, which she said Quattara’s family could post.
Morales initially seemed to side with the prosecutor — before doing an about-face.
“Given the totality of the circumstances here, the two cases, the [potential prison time] exposure, all of the information that I’ve gone through in the papers, and the arguments that have been placed before me.
“I do believe that Mr. Quattara poses a risk of flight to avoid prosecution,” the judge said. “I don’t believe that Mr. Quattara’s family can keep a curfew for him. But he needs a curfew, so the sheriff is going to keep it for him. He’s going to be released on electronic monitoring.”
But a law enforcement source said that releasing offenders on supervised release still carries risks.
“Despite what people think, electronic monitoring still requires a level of maturity and willingness to comply,” the source said. “[Younger] offenders aren’t always the best suited, so it’s not without risk.”
In a statement Thursday, a spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration defended Morales.
“The arraignment judge may only consider the least restrictive means to ensure that the defendant returns to court solely on the case immediately in front of them,” spokesman Lucian Chalfen said.
“Judge Morales made an extensive record going through all aspects of the defendant’s current situation — in school, stable home situation, and high score on the Criminal Justice Agency assessment before putting him on both electronic monitoring with a curfew by the sheriff and supervised release,” he said.
Quattara was already supposed to be under supervised release in the Brooklyn case.
In that incident, he was spotted with a gun near George E. Wibecan Preparatory Academy on March 12 and led cops on a foot chase, allegedly dumping the gun while he ran, according to a complaint.
He was hit with eight charges, including felony gun possession.
But sources said court officials were given the wrong age, and listed him as a minor despite the fact that he had turned 18 a month earlier — which would have qualified him to be charged in adult court.
Due to the error, the case was earmarked for Family Court and prosecutors did not ask for bail.
Brooklyn prosecutors would only get another crack at bail if Quattara is indicted in the case.
Morales, the Manhattan jurist who cut him loose again, is no stranger to controversy.
Last year, she released a career criminal free without bail on felony gun rap — only to have him skip out on the case until he was nabbed weeks later in Puerto Rico by federal agents.
Frankie Centeno already had four gun-possession convictions on his record when Morales — who was sitting in Bronx court at the time — cut him loose despite prosecutors’ request for $100,000 bail.
In November 2021, Morales released a serial crook who was busted three times in just 36 hours — and was so confident he’d be released that he boasted that he would dodge bail.
Agustin Garcia, 63, went before Morales after the third bust in the spree, with the judge ignoring the DA’s request of $20,000 bail and instead ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
The Legal Aid Society, which represented Quattara in the new cases, said Thursday that the teen was now represented by a court-appointed private attorney and it was no longer representing him.
“It’s hard to believe, but [Manhattan DA Alvin] Bragg’s office actually got it right here,” one source quipped about the Manhattan case.