[ad_1]
Crime-victim advocates Friday demanded that the state legislature support Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed criminal-justice reforms, saying some of the changes would help protect battered women.
The domestic-violence-prevention groups — in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-The Bronx) — ripped the current tight deadlines that prosecutors face when turning over discovery, or evidence, to the other side.
“We have seen domestic violence prosecutions dismissed in record numbers for mere technical violations of discovery rules, leaving vulnerable survivors without urgently needed orders of protection and dashed hopes of justice,” said the letter, which was signed by representatives from more than a dozen groups, including Sanctuary for Families and the Met Council.
“Just as alarming, we are seeing prosecutors plead down or adjourn in contemplation of dismissal serious domestic violence cases because they are too overburdened with overwhelming discovery compliance to provide survivors at grave risk of danger with the protection they need.”
Hochul’s proposal, leaked to The Post last week, would allow judges to decide whether prosecutors are in “substantial” compliance on discovery, rather than only operate under the current regs, which require all evidence to be turned over in most cases within 20 days of arraignment.
The groups argued that the current situation is forcing prosecutors to cut plea deals or leads to charges being dropped altogether because of the restrictions.
The state’s district attorneys association for prosecutors — who include Bronx DA Darcel Clark, Queens DA Melinda Katz, Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez and Staten Island DA Michael McMahon — also authored a letter supporting the changes. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg was not among those who signed the letter.
Hochul must still sell Heastie and Stewart-Cousins on the changes, which the pair have given a chilly reception to.
The measure would likely need to be included in Hochul’s $216 billion state budget proposal, which is due by April 1.
“I think the general sense is that nobody in our conference is wanting to go backwards,” Stewart-Cousins told reporters in Albany earlier this week. “Absolutely not.
“We’re not going back to a place that we weren’t at before we even began the discussion on bail [reforms], ” she added.
Neither Heastie or Stewart-Cousins returned requests for comment from The Post on Friday.
[ad_2]