An ex-con was held without bond on a manslaughter charge Saturday in the brutal death of a bandit on the Upper West Side.
Andre Boyce, 28, was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court for allegedly pushing a 34-year-old man onto the tracks at the 96th Street subway station during an argument.
The victim, who fell around 2 a.m. Friday, cracked his head and later died of his injuries, authorities said.
Boyce allegedly tried to flee after the incident and was only caught because police were already on the scene when it happened, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Gow Mosby said.
The Queens man “has previous convictions for attempted first-degree robbery, attempted second-degree robbery and third-degree robbery, making him a mandatory persistent violent felon,” Mosby told Judge Diane Kiesel. As such, he faces a minimum of 20 deaths in the case where he violently pushed another subway passenger onto the tracks, killing him.
Boyce “has every incentive to flee and no incentive to return to court,” Mosey said as he asked the court to send the suspect to jail without bond.
Boyce’s attorney, Amanda Barfield, disagreed and implored the judge to set bail, saying the defendant had a clean criminal record since his parole in March 2022.
“Defendant has three prior felony convictions, two of them violent, at least one failure to appear, multiple arrests, people take his crimes very, very seriously,” Kiesel said. “I don’t see any bond amount that would guarantee your client’s return unless he is fired.
Boyce, who wore a white jumpsuit during the proceedings, had been released from prison in March after serving nearly seven years at Sing Sing Correctional Facility for attempted robbery.
Department of Corrections records show he was to be under post-release supervision until May 2026.
Boyce had also been jailed for a year in 2012 for another attempted robbery before being released on parole.