A man sought in New York in a fatal bludgeoning last month in a Manhattan hotel has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and other felony charges in Arizona in separate stabbings of two women over a week later in metro Phoenix.
Raad Noah Almansoori, 26, was arraigned Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court on charges stemming from the stabbings on Feb. 17 in Phoenix and on Feb. 18 in the suburb of Surprise.
Almansoori's only comments during the two-minute hearing were stating his name and birth date when asked by the court to do so. After the hearing, his attorney, Dakota Johnson, didn't immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment on his client's behalf.
Almansoori's trial on the Arizona charges was scheduled for July 2.
He is accused of stabbing an 18-year-old woman at least three times neck in a McDonald's restaurant bathroom in the community of Surprise. Police also say he stabbed another woman a day earlier in Phoenix.
New York police say Almansoori also is a suspect in the Feb. 8 killing of a woman in that city. The body of Denisse Oleas-Arancibia was found by staff on the floor of a hotel room. Officers said her death was determined to have been caused by blunt force trauma to the head, and a broken clothes iron was found nearby.
The Arizona case has sparked a political feud between Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, a Republican, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.
Mitchell balked at sending Almansoori back to New York for prosecution before he is tried in Arizona in the stabbings. Almansoori, who is being held without bond on the Arizona charges, said in a Monday court hearing that he would not waive formal extradition proceedings to New York while he is being prosecuted on the Arizona charges.
