Rally Held For UWS Nurse Charged With Murdering Her Husband

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A rally took place Monday for an Upper West Side nurse who stands accused of murdering her husband, but what she and advocates say was an act of self defense against a long-time abuser.

The group, who rallied in Foley Square, hand delivered more than 21,000 signatures directly to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office in an effort to drop all charges against her.

“Tracy McCarter is a Black woman who is being prosecuted for daring to survive,” said Susan Hadley, Civil Rights Union Leader at VOCAL-NY, in a news release. “I am standing in solidarity with Tracy. And I am standing in solidarity with everyone who has survived domestic violence, and in honor of those who have not."

"They deserve so much better," she added. "We all do. We all know that justice demands that DA Bragg drop all charges against Tracy McCarter, that prosecution of all survivors be ended immediately, and that they’d all be free!”

McCarter was arrested in March 2020 after allegedly stabbing her husband with a kitchen knife, who she was separated with at the time.

Her husband arrived at their Upper West Side home drunk, demanded money to buy alcohol, and then attacked her when she said no, according to court documents

In an effort to defend herself, she stabbed him once in the chest, and did her best to administer aid as she called the police, the documents reads. He died a short time later.

McCarter was arraigned a day later and held without bail because the office of District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. determined she was a flight risk due to her previously working as a traveling nurse and having family in Texas, despite the fact that she had a full-time job at Weill-Cornell since 2014.

In the time since, McCarter spent several months on Rikers as her case moved slowly through the pandemic-delayed court system. Multiple times efforts to reduce her sentence or dismiss the indictment have been denied.

She has her next trial date on Nov. 28.

Rally goers on Monday emphasized the point that Bragg had shown support of McCarter while on the campaign trail, but now accuse him of not following through on his promise to get justice for the Upper West Sider.

"DA Bragg claims he’s done all he can do for Tracy, but we know that he can drop the charges against her and commit to not prosecuting other survivors of domestic and gender-based violence," said Angel Parker, coordinator of Envision Freedom Fund’s Court Watch NYC program, in a news release.

Bragg's office told multiple publications that he cannot comment on pending cases.