A judge in New York City released a career criminal accused of a random knife attack, only for the man to be arrested in connection with another transit slashing a month later.
Police arrested 32-year-old Demitri Marshall several hours after he sliced a 27-year-old man across the face without provocation near the East Broadway train station, the New York Post reported. The attack occurred after Marshall was arrested for slashing another stranger while on a Bronx train.
The latest victim, who chose only to be identified by his first name Fernando, told the outlet he needed seven stitches for wounds across his mouth and nose. He also “lamented that the seasoned perp could have taken his life,” according to the report.
“It’s wrong what the city of New York [did],” said Fernando, who is from Ecuador and works as a painter. “He’s a criminal who got released by a judge and he could’ve killed me. I don’t know why the justice system lets him go free.”
Fernando told the outlet he had just gotten off the train and was headed home from work when Marshall allegedly attacked him out of nowhere.
“I came out behind him, but I didn’t pay any attention to him,” Fernando said. “I stopped on the corner, on the street. I couldn’t cross because the light was red, so I looked to the left and to the right, and I felt like a blow to my face. He grabbed me, and I was going to fight him but then I saw all the blood.”
“He didn’t say anything. I was in shock,” he added. “I didn’t do anything to him. I told the police, ‘Thank God he didn’t hit me in the neck or something. I could’ve died.’”
Fernando said he ran back to the subway station and reported the attack to on-duty police officers.
Law enforcement tracked Marshall down and arrested him around 5:30 p.m. He is facing a first-degree felony assault charge, according to prosecutors. Marshall has pleaded not guilty. He was held on Rikers Island without bail during his arraignment on Tuesday.
Prosecutors said Marshall is being kept behind bars after Judge Ralph L. Wolf granted hum supervised release following a similar attack last month. In that incident, Marshall allegedly slashed a 21-year-old man across his face unprovoked while on the No. 6 train near Zerega Avenue around 11:45 p.m. on Aug. 28, according to the report.
The victim in that case was transported to Jacobi Medical Center and police reported he was in stable condition.
Marshall was arrested in connection to the August knife attack on Sept. 15 and was charged with first-degree attempted assault, assault in the second and third degrees, criminal possession of a weapon, and harassment, the report states, citing a criminal complaint.
Judge Wolf had released Marshall, despite a request from prosecutors to hold him on $50,000 cash bail or $150,000 bond, per the DA’s Office.
A spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration told the outlet “the court system does not comment on individual bail determinations.” Spokesman Al Baker caveated that the “vast majority of bail decisions turn on the court’s discretionary weighing of a broad range of factors in order to make an individualized assessment of the defendant’s risk of flight to avoid prosecution.”
Marshall had been busted seven times before the latest attack, the Post noted. He has been arrested two previous times for punching individuals unprovoked on public transit. He also served more than a year in state prison between 2023 and 2024 for a Manhattan robbery. He was released on parole in that case, which expired in February, according to the report.
Marshall has more busts dating back to 2012, including arrests for robbery, burglary, and fare evasion, sources told the outlet.
Marshall is due to appear in court again for the latest case on Oct. 30.
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