The knife-wielding transgender woman who viciously stabbed a postal worker to death in a Harlem deli earlier this year was sentenced Thursday to 15 years behind bars.
Jaia Cruz, 24 — who ruthlessly killed USPS worker Ray Hodges after an argument in January — was given the sentence after striking a plea deal, infuriating relatives of Hodges at the Manhattan court hearing who wanted more time.
“This is pure evil. This is a disgusting excuse for a human being and you allowed a second chance,” the mother of Hodges’ children, whose name wasn’t immediately clear, told Judge Gregory Carro
“When people like this are allowed plea bargains, you get broken families, you get us. I’m not happy with fifteen years,” she raged. “To all these postal workers, be careful when you are out there working your route.”
In April, Cruz pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the Jan. 2 slaying of Hodges, a 36-year-old father of two, at Joe’s Deli Grocery.
Cruz knifed Hodges after he confronted her about cutting him in line at the counter inside the bodega — later saying that he “deserved it,” according to prosecutors.
At the sentencing Thursday, an attorney for Cruz’ said Hodges made a “slur” about “her gender identity” during the deli clash.
The lawyer also listed medications that Cruz, who has history of knife violence, has been taking to maintain her gender and requested that she be placed in female jail facility.
Outside the courtroom, Hodges’ furious family members began chanting “It’s a boy!” and “F–king boy!” as other supporters wore “Justice for Ray” t-shirts.
Judge Carro called the fatal stabbing a “senseless killing over a trivial misunderstanding.”
But he added that “proving someone’s intent to kill is always difficult” — an apparent explanation for the plea deal and light sentence.
Cruz’s April plea deal came less than three months after prosecutors indicted her on a second-degree murder charge for the broad-daylight killing, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 25 years to life.
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