Staten Island’s District Attorney Testifies At Budget Hearing

February 17, 2025 Michael McMahon 0 American Culture, Civil Rights, Culture, Economy And Finances, Equality, Local Voices, Morality and Ethics, New York City News, News, Politics, SI Communities, Staten Island Culture, Staten Island Families, Staten Island News, Staten Islander Exclusive

DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

Editor’s note: The Mayor’s rundown article discusses similar testimony on the NYS Budget proposals provided by the mayor to the Assembly Ways and Means committee. Some of the crime statistics can be found in the Mayor’s statement from several weeks ago showing crime overall is down.

At his testimony, the mayor spoke about the same issues as the DA: “Keeping our city safe also means going after the small number of repeat offenders who continue to commit crimes across the five boroughs and throughout the state. Justice and public safety can — and must — go hand-in-hand. We look forward to working with Governor Hochul to preserve and protect the best parts of the 2019 discovery reforms, while making targeted changes to stop recidivists from creating chaos on our streets. This and other agenda items will build on our track-record of working together to make New York City safer. Just last week, our administration joined with Governor Hochul to commit to a six-month NYPD surge that will ensure approximately 300 uniformed officers are deployed on nearly all 150 overnight trains. And I applaud Governor Hochul’s focus on gun violence prevention programs to help our city stop violence before it happens on our streets.”

Highlights of Testimony Submitted on Behalf of District Attorneys Association of the State of New York (DAASNY) at 2025 Joint Budget Hearing on Public Protection

Prosecutors Urge Changes to the Discovery Law, Drugged Driving Law, As Well As Continued Investments of Money Related to Discovery Exchange in Our State

(ALBANY, NY) The District Attorneys Association of the State of New York (DAASNY) appeared at the State Legislature’s Joint Legislative Hearing on Public Protection and highlighted the need for changes to New York State’s discovery law.

DAASNY President-Elect Rensselaer County District Attorney Mary Pat Donnelly and Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark appeared before the Senate and Assembly and focused on challenges faced by prosecutors due to changes to New York’s 2019 discovery law, which was designed to make the criminal justice system fairer to those accused of crime by ensuring that they have all the information they need to defend themselves.

“DAASNY is here to advocate for changes to our discovery law that would help fulfill the original intent of discovery reform, to allow for early, broad disclosure to criminal defendants,” said District Attorney Donnelly, “and that would ease the burdens on the criminal justice system that the discovery law created. Tight deadlines in the discovery law and difficulties in obtaining information have resulted in widespread dismissals all over the State and have slowed down the speed of dispositions.”

DAASNY supports amendments to the discovery law that have been included in Governor Hochul’s Executive Budget. The changes would reduce case processing times and help end the exploitation of the speedy trial statutes that results in dismissals on technicalities and not on the merits of a case.

The proposal also adds a harm-proportionate remedy to the discovery process that would make it clear that dismissals should only be considered in circumstances where a defendant’s case is actually harmed by a failure to provide discovery.

“New York State’s District Attorneys lent their support to Governor Hochul’s discovery proposal, which would address the unintended consequences of our current discovery statute,” said DAASNY President, Richmond County District Attorney Michael E. McMahon. “Those unintended consequences have led to the dismissal or reduction in charges in thousands of felony and misdemeanor cases, especially large numbers of petit larcenies, quality of life crimes, DWIs, and assault cases.”

The structure of the current discovery law incentivizes defense attorneys to delay cases to “run out the speedy trial clock,” to obtain dismissals based on speedy trial grounds, a result that was not the intent of the drafters of the original law.

“A case should not be dismissed because of one missing piece of paper that is not relevant to the defense,” said District Attorney Clark. “Remedies and sanctions should be appropriate to any harm done to the defendant’s case. Governor Hochul’s proposal would ensure that prosecutors disclose and turn over all materials that are relevant to the subject matter of the charges. Disclosure of that nature would not decrease the types of evidence that a defendant would receive, but it would ensure that the material is connected to the matter at hand.”

DAASNY also supports Governor Hochul’s proposed amendment to the Vehicle and Traffic Law, which would close a significant loophole in drugged driving cases. Under current law, an impaired driver cannot be charged with drugged driving unless the prosecution is able to prove that the driver was under the influence of a drug named on a list of controlled substances contained in the Public Health Law. Even the most impaired drugged drivers cannot be prosecuted unless the drug they ingested appears on that list.

The result has been a detrimental impact on public safety resulting from many drugged drivers who cannot be prosecuted for their crimes. Governor Hochul’s proposed amendment would close that loophole, by providing that impaired motorists may be charged with drugged driving, no matter what drug impairs their ability to drive.

DAASNY also encouraged legislators to continue to provide funding for the discovery process, as well as to prioritize funding for programs and initiatives that help stop violence and maintain public safety. Full remarks as well as DAASNY’s full Budget Request Letter can be found at this link.