Donations are pouring in to the legal defense fund of the young man accused of fatally stabbing an ex-con straphanger who punched him and his girlfriend — with the pot topping $71,500 in a day.
The mother of 20-year-old suspect Jordan Williams started the fundraiser on a Christian donation site Thursday, shortly after Brooklyn Judge Sherveal Mimes balked at prosecutors’ request that her son be held on $100,000 bail and instead released him.
Within 24 hours, the fund-raising effort had raised more than two-thirds of its $100,000 goal.
Williams of Hollis, Queens, was riding the northbound J train with his girlfriend on Tuesday evening when he got into an altercation with Devictor Ouedraogo, 36, who did time in 2009 for attempted robbery.
Ouedraogo was being “obnoxious” to passengers and started arguing with Williams before the ex-con socked both the 20-year-old man and his gal pal in the face, a witness, Eric, told The Post.
Williams and Ouedraogo then tussled and had each other in headlocks before Williams allegedly brandished a knife and stabbed the older man twice in the chest.
Ouedraogo stumbled onto the platform at Marcy Avenue in Williamsburg, where first responders found him around 8 p.m.. He was later pronounced dead at Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.
“His friend was kind of smacking him in the face, but he was completely unconscious laying on the subway platform,” Eric recalled, noting that he did not expect Ouedraogo to die from his injuries.
Williams and his girlfriend were subsequently picked up by police at Chauncey Street station, sources confirmed.
Williams was charged with manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon Wednesday morning, while his girlfriend – whose age has not been released – was freed, cops said.
At Williams’ arraignment Thursday afternoon, Assistant District Attorney David Ingle asked Judge Sherveal Mimes to impose $100,000 cash bail on Williams.
Mimes declined and elected to cut Williams loose.
“I really do not believe that you pose a flight risk – I just don’t,” Mimes told the suspect.
“I think that your whole life is ahead of you. I think that you have every reason to fight this case with the support of your family.”
Williams’ lawyer, Jason Goldman, told the court that his client works at FedEx to help his family and has no history of legal trouble.
“[He was in a] precarious position where … you either sit there and get assaulted and let all the people get assaulted or you eventually stand up for yourself and you get arrested,” he said of the fight that led to Ouedraogo’s death.
Williams’ mother, April Williams, has compared her son to Daniel Penny, the former Marine who was indicted for killing mentally ill homeless man Jordan Neely after Neely allegedly threatened passengers on the F train last month.
“Simply stated, these cases have become all too familiar in NYC, and this situation resembles that of Daniel Penny – who is out on bail and able to defend himself freely,” April wrote in her fund-raising plea.
“[Williams] should not suffer because he can not afford bail on a case where he simply was justified in the actions he took. Why should Jordan have to suffer at Rikers Island and fight his case from a cage?”
April beamed outside the Brooklyn Criminal Court after her son’s arraignment Thursday.
“He’s the baby boy, he’s treated like the baby … We love him to death,” she told The Post of Williams.
“The judge had only good things to say about him.
“He came from good stock. You see the good, the good will shine … my endgame for him is to raise a reputable black man.”
Just hours after her son was arrested Tuesday night, April posted a plea for guidance on her Facebook page.
“Way is it YOU want me 2 learn here, LORD! #Imlistenin,” she wrote around 2:20 a.m. Wednesday.
After his client’s arraignment, Goldman said it is “upsetting to see that Mr. Williams is even being charged without a thorough investigation.”
Ouedraogo previously served more than three years in prison for attempted robbery in Queens, records show.
He was paroled to immigration in April 2012.
