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Albany, are you listening?
Specifically, Carl Heastie, speaker of the Assembly, and Andrea Stewart-Cousins, majority leader of the Senate, the two leaders who proudly encourage more crime in our state.
Will you finally stand up for the average New Yorker?
In 2019, Albany legislators signed a series of justice “reforms” for criminals.
Bail was outlawed in many cases, recidivists were allowed to steal again and again and again with no punishment, and onerous discovery rules were passed at the behest of defense attorneys.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed these bills, and the utterly predictable happened — crime increased, particularly in New York City.
More outlaws went free.
More cases were thrown out.
And rampant shoplifting means you have to get a clerk to unlock the toothpaste for you.
Remember all this when Cuomo runs for mayor and tries to pretend it wasn’t his fault.
On Friday, district attorneys from around the state — including from all the five boroughs — stood with Gov. Hochul to ask Albany to fix one part of this mess, the discovery portion.
These rules go beyond ensuring the rights of suspects.
They are, instead, an easy “gotcha” for public defenders and a “get out of jail free” card for criminals.
Let’s say two police officers arrest a mugger.
The prosecution collects their bodycams and all their paperwork — but oh, says the defense, you forgot the cam of the third cop who came by 30 minutes later to put up police tape.
Case dismissed.
Yes, it gets that ridiculous.
In one case of a subway slasher, the fact that just one visit to a doctor by the victim (which didn’t change the state of their injuries) wasn’t included in discovery caused the whole case to be thrown out.
Prior to 2019, 42% of cases in New York City were dismissed.
In 2023, it was 62%.
We think the whole ridiculous law should go.
But Hochul and the DAs simply are asking for some common-sense reforms.
Namely, that discoverable material has to be relevant to the case.
That there be a time limit for the defense to make an objection.
And that there are court sanctions available short of tossing everything.
Until now, Albany, and Heastie in particular, has been resistant to do anything to fix the obvious problems with the 2019 laws.
No amount of injustice can sway them.
But the sheer unanimity of the people entrusted to prosecute the law has to say something.
For heaven’s sake, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, a man who started his term with a memo telling his prosecutors to try to avoid bringing cases whenever possible, is begging for the discovery law to change.
When one of the most progressive DAs in the country is saying this is unfair to victims, isn’t it time to listen?
Put aside the stubborn, intransigent dogma and do what’s right for all New Yorkers.
