Overview

• Valdez pleaded guilty in June to second-degree attempted murder for the March 2024 subway platform assault at Fulton Street Station that amputated his girlfriend Ada Blake’s legs.
• On July 29, the New York State Supreme Court sentenced Valdez to 18 years in prison with five years of post-release supervision and issued a full protective order barring contact with Blake.
• In a powerful victim impact statement, Blake described her ongoing physical and emotional trauma, including fractured ribs, a lung blood clot and permanent disability.
• Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said he hopes the sentence offers Blake some sense of justice and emphasized the seriousness with which transit violence is prosecuted.
• The case has prompted calls for tightened parole monitoring and enhanced subway platform safety to prevent similar acts of domestic violence in public transit.