The man accused of fatally stabbing an ex-con who punched his girlfriend on a J train this week was released without bail Thursday after his arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court.
Assistant District Attorney David Ingle had asked Judge Sherveal Mimes to impose $100,000 cash bail on Jordan Williams, the 20-year-old from Hollis, Queens, who allegedly knifed Devictor Ouedraogo on Tuesday during a subway struggle.
But Mimes refused, instead electing to cut Williams loose.
“I really do not believe that you pose a flight risk – I just don’t,” Mimes told Williams. “I think that your whole life is ahead of you. I think that you have every reason to fight this case with the support of your family.”
Jason Goldman, Williams’ attorney, said in court that his client works at FedEx to help pay the family bills and has never been in legal trouble.
“He’s a gentle soul in the community,” Goldman said. “This situation escalated and it was by no fault of his own.”
His client was in the “precarious position where are you either sit there and get assaulted and let all the people get assaulted – or you eventually stand up for yourself and you get arrested.”
Williams’ family was elated by the judge’s decision.
“Thank you, Jesus!” his godmother exclaimed in court, while Williams’ mother — who had compared her son to Daniel Penny as a good Samaritan who was trying to protect people — smiled.
Outside the court, Williams’ mom, April, said she was ecstatic when her son walked out of court.
“He’s the baby boy, he’s treated like the baby … We love him to death,” she said. “The judge had only good things to say about him.”
“This is how he was raised,” she continued. “He came from good stock. You see the good, the good will shine … my endgame for him is to raise a reputable black man.”
Williams, of Hollis, Queens, has been charged with manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon, authorities said. He faces up to 25 years in prison for the first charge, while the second could tack on an extra 12 months.
Ingle said Williams has no prior arrests, and the two men did not know each other.
Ouedraogo, 36, was allegedly harassing commuters aboard the train as it approached Marcy Avenue in Williamsburg on Tuesday evening, the district attorney told the court.
Ouedraogo, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, approached Williams’ girlfriend and asked, “Want to f–k?” Ingle said.
Williams told the man to get away from them, but Ouedraogo kept harassing his girlfriend. So Williams pushed him away and told him not to come closer.
During the clash, Ouedraogo also punched Williams’ girlfriend in the face, according to Goldman and police sources.
“The deceased took one step to the defendant, and punched the defendant one or two times,” Ingle said. “He removed a folding knife and stabbed the deceased in the chest. The deceased got off the train at Marcy Ave and collapsed on the platform.”
Cops responding to a 911 call found him at about 8 p.m., and EMS rushed him to Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he died.
The pair stayed on the train until the cops caught up with them at the Chauncy Street station, Ingle said.
Williams allegedly had a folding knife in his backpack when police arrested him.
Everything you need to know about Jordan Williams' stabbing case
Devictor Ouedraogo, 36, was hassling other commuters on board a J train Tuesday evening when he started arguing with Jordan Williams, 20, and his girlfriend, sources said.
Ouedraogo was eventually stabbed to death by Williams, police and sources said.
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Police and EMS rushed Ouedraogo to Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Williams was released without bail Thursday after his arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court.
Williams has been charged with manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon, authorities said.
He faces up to 25 years in prison for the first charge, while the second could tack on an extra 12 months.
Passenger-recorded videos and eyewitness accounts corroborated claims that Ouedraogo – who served time in state prison in 2009 for an attempted robbery in Queens – was aggressively harassing the couple, Ingle said.
Jason Goldman, Williams’ attorney, said it was “upsetting to see that Mr. Williams is even being charged without a thorough investigation.”
Williams’ second-cousin, Sabrina Barrow, decried the crime in the subway system that affects everyday commuters.
“There is so much violence on the train,” Barrow said. “How are you supposed to protect yourself? If a person’s jumping on you, what are you supposed to do?”
Barrow also described her cousin as a “good kid” who’s attending college and volunteers as an usher at Wayside Baptist Church in Brownsville.
“He’s funny, smart and very respectful,” she added.
Meanwhile, his mom, April Williams, has compared her son to Penny, the 24-yearold former Marine who was indicted this week for killing troubled homeless man Jordan Neely after Neely allegedly threatened passengers on a subway in Manhattan last month.
Her son “acted with courage to defend himself and passengers from a physically violent, reckless, and deranged individual,” April Williams wrote.
“Simply stated, these cases have become all too familiar in NYC, and this situation resembles that of Daniel Penny – who is out on bail and able to defend himself freely,” April Williams wrote on a GiveSendGo fundraiser she created. wrote. “We just pray for that same opportunity!”
The fundraiser, which she said is to cover his legal bills, had garnered about $35,000 as of Thursday night.
After Thursday’s arraignment, Goldman, Williams’ attorney, was asked about his previous comments in which questioned if his client was getting treatment differently than Penny “because his skin color is different.”
Goldman answered: “Well I can walk that back” – and noted how Williams got treated better than Penny, considering his client was released without bail.
Additional reporting by Jack Morphet
