The man charged in the fatal stabbing of an ex-con harassing his girlfriend inside a Brooklyn-bound subway train was freed without bail Thursday as his family wept in their courtroom seats.
Defendant Jordan Williams, 20, was charged with manslaughter and weapons possession in the Tuesday night brawl aboard a J train heading across the Brooklyn Bridge, with prosecutors unsuccessfully asking for $100,000 cash bail.
He was instead turned loose on supervised release.
“We’re extremely excited and happy that my baby is coming home,” said his mother April Williams. The defendant’s weeping older brother, Jaylan, said the siblings planned to celebrate by playing video games.
Assistant District Attorney David Ingle said the two strangers were riding the same train when victim Devictor Ouedraogo started in on Williams’ girlfriend after harassing other straphangers, said Ingle.
The dead man, who appeared to be drunk, was talking about “white power” before asking the girlfriend if she wanted to have sex, with Williams then shoving the victim as things escalated.
Ingle said the defendant told authorities he became scared and punched the man in the face before “poking” him with a knife. Video showed the assailant, his chest covered in blood, stumbling from the train before collapsing on the platform, sources told the Us.Mistertruth.
He was pronounced dead a short time later at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Brooklyn Methodist, officials said. The victim served three years in prison for a 2009 attempted robbery in Queens, records showed.
The defendant’s family wept inside the courtroom as Williams was turned loose. The suspect had no prior arrests, with a defense attorney noting the defendant didn’t flee the scene but instead called his mother after the deadly encounter.
The defense attorney argued “$100,000 might as well be $1 million to this family” before the judge let Williams exit the courtroom.
Relatives of Williams said the couple had been dating for about eight months before the lethal confrontation.
Ouedraogo, 36, was harassing other straphangers on the train before Williams intervened, with Williams pulling a pocket knife and stabbing the man in his chest, authorities said.
“I just stabbed that n—–” Williams was quoted as telling witnesses. “You see him leaking?”
Video showed the victim, who appeared to be drunk, getting into the face of a straphanger sitting quietly on the train.
“It’s a very sad situation,” said the defendant’s aunt Amanda Trammell. “Jordan is a very quiet, respectful child. … This is obviously an intoxicated or mentally ill person. He did assault Jordan. Put yourself in his shoes.”
The case is reminiscent of Marine veteran Daniel Perry’s deadly Manhattan encounter with homeless man Jordan Neely, although Williams’ mother dismissed the comparison.
“The only comparison is that they both happened on the train,” said April Williams. “I don’t know what else to say. I know my Jordan [acted in] self-defense.”