Brooklyn judge freed accused Q train killer without bail in car theft case weeks before subway slaying
NEW YORK — Weeks before Andrew Abdullah was accused of murdering a Brooklyn man in cold blood on a subway train, a criminal court judge released him without bail on charges of stealing a car.
At a court hearing April 26 — less than a month before the shooting death Sunday of Daniel Enriquez on a Q train — a Brooklyn prosecutor asked a judge to order Abdullah held on $15,000 bond on charges of possession of stolen property after he was caught driving a stolen car.
The prosecutor noted that Abdullah had a criminal record, and that he had charges pending on several other criminal cases, including assault and weapons possession.
But Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Leigh Cheng denied prosecutors’ request, saying that Abdullah’s history of showing up to court — he’d never missed a court appearance — meant he should be released in the case, according to a transcript of the hearing obtained by the Daily News.
“Although you do have a criminal history, and that is of concern, it appears that you have enough respect for the court that you have never missed a court date,” said Cheng, before granting Abdullah supervised release.
Abdullah, 25, now awaits the nearly certain prospect of a lengthy stay behind bars when he is arraigned in Manhattan for the random murder of Enriquez, who was riding the Q train to meet his brother for brunch when he was gunned down near the Canal Street station.
The crime came after Abdullah was released three times in other cases since 2020.
After getting sprung from jail in late 2019 in a gang conspiracy case, he was quickly rearrested in January 2020 for criminal possession of a weapon, when cops found a loaded .40-caliber pistol on him, according to prosecutors.
He was jailed at Rikers Island for months, but released later in 2020 when an NYPD school safety agent relative of his posted his partially secured $300,000 bail. Efforts to reach the relative, Nayifah Abdullah, were unsuccessful. A man who answered the door at Nayifah Abdullah’s apartment declined comment.
In March of 2021, Abdullah was cuffed again in a domestic violence case for assaulting his partner on numerous occasions, Manhattan prosecutors said. He was charged with misdemeanor assault and put on supervised release in that case.
When Abdullah was accused of stealing the car on April 24, Brooklyn prosecutors noted the pile up of open cases — the domestic violence case, the gun case and now the criminal possession of stolen property case — when requesting bail.
“The defendant has pending cases,” said Assistant District Attorney Tziyonah Langsam, noting an instance in which Abdullah allegedly slapped his partner in the face while she was holding their child.
Langsam requested bail under what is known as the “harm plus harm” statute, which allows judges to set bail in cases where defendants are accused of committing a crime that harms a person or property while out on another crime that caused harm to a person or property.
Under the “harm plus harm” statute, judges can impose bail even for crimes not normally eligible for bail under the New York’s bail reform laws.
But Abdullah’s attorney shot down the argument.
“I think the harm-plus-harm allegations here are a bit of a stretch,” said Lauren Restivo, adding that Abdullah was employed, had a home and showed up in court when required.
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