6 days Ago By Benjamin Oreskes and Grace Ashford
After weeks of infighting and political grandstanding, Democratic leaders in New York said on Tuesday that they had reached agreement on a contentious issue holding up this year’s state budget negotiations: criminal discovery. For years district attorneys have pushed for changes in state law governing the timing and scope of what evidence prosecutors must produce, which is known as discovery, before a trial. Prosecutors argued that they lacked the staffing and resources to comply with the demands and deadlines laid out in the law, resulting in serious cases being dismissed.
Their campaign was backed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, who spent — even going so far as to refuse to sign any budget that would not reduce the number of criminal cases that are dismissed on procedural grounds. She has held numerous public events to push for the new measures, including as recently as Tuesday afternoon in Ulster County.
Ms. Hochul said at the event that “there could be a resolution in sight,” and that she was eager to return to Albany to seal the deal. Yet the framework of the agreement was announced on Tuesday by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.
He said he and his staff had been speaking directly to prosecutors from New York City and their aides in recent days to find a middle ground and address concerns from some Democrats that criminal defendants would be at a disadvantage as their lawyers prepared for trial. “The governor always said to me she wanted the D.A.
s to be in a good place,” Mr. Heastie said. “The D.
A.s seem to be in a very good place. Her team was briefed on the language last night and they seemed to be fine.
” We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
If you are in Reader mode please exit and your Times account, or for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? .
Want all of The Times? ..
