In a Manhattan courtroom, a heartbroken mother whose Army veteran son was murdered in 2018 wept as video of the incident was presented in an attempt to get one of the alleged attackers released on bond.
Madeline Brame, whose 35-year-old son Hason Correa was stabbed to death in Harlem, grabbed her chest as she watched black-and-white security footage of her son going around.
“And you want to let him out?” Brame said during defendant Travis Stewart’s bail hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court on Friday.
As court officers held her up and then escorted her away to gather herself, the crying Brame began to collapse in sobs. She later stated that she felt her heart stopping.
Toni Messina, a lawyer for Stewart, presented the video in an bid to demonstrate her client was “not involved in the way” that was presented to the grand jury.
Stewart faces murder, attempted murder, gang assault, and assault charges. Since his arrest in 2018, he has been held without bail. This was the fourth hearing in an attempt to free him.
He is one of four people accused of attacking Correa and his father, Wesley, in the lobby of a Harlem apartment complex on Oct. 19, 2018.
After the father and son got into a disagreement with someone else in the building, the tragic incident occurred.
Steven Hirsch
Correa was stabbed in the heart, a married father of three who had served in Afghanistan. His father sustained critical injuries.
Messina attempted to depict her client as a dedicated community member who was not a flight danger.
Stewart has a gang affiliation, according to Assistant District Attorney Keith Savino, as well as a past violent felony arrest in which he pulled a revolver on a victim.
Correa had done a tour in Afghanistan.
Stewart was remanded in custody without bail by Judge Ellen Biben.
Another defendant in the case, Mary Saunders, had her bond reduced to $12,000 by Biben in 2019, and she has since been released.
The case’s trial has been postponed due to COVID-19 safety rules.
The victim was also a married father of three.
Brame, 59, said she appreciated Biben’s decision to keep Stewart in jail, but said the hearing was draining emotionally.
“Having to sit through this over and over again is terrible and torturous,” she remarked after the hearing. “I’m ready for this to go to trial and be finished.” It’s been four years. “I’ve had enough.”