A city councilman wants to close a discovery law loophole that’s sparking unnecessary criminal case dismissals — with a tweak Albany lawmakers left on the cutting room floor during budget season.
Councilman Keith Powers is pushing legislation that would create a centralized database of NYPD evidence accessible by prosecutors and defense attorneys, which could help officials comply with burdensome evidence-sharing requirements under the state’s 2019 criminal justice reforms.
Powers, who is also running for Manhattan borough president, said the new law would complement tweaks to the state discovery laws in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s latest budget that finally passed late Thursday in response to massive, bipartisan backlash to the reforms.
“We think it’s a good, easy piece of the puzzle and a critical piece that Albany is leaving out of the budget deal,” Powers (D-Manhattan) told The Post.
New York state’s current discovery laws have been blasted because of aggressive deadlines for evidence sharing in criminal cases that critics say lead to cases to be dismissed and criminals cut loose without facing justice because of technicalities.
Hochul unveiled her stunning $254 billion budget deal with a few tweaks in the discovery law language — with state lawmakers touting the deal as addressing the high number of dismissals.
Powers, though, wants to mitigate NYPD’s onerous evidence requirements by giving the city’s prosecutors and defense attorneys direct access to a centralized electronic evidence system.
In New York City, prosecutors rely on NYPD staff to compile the evidence, making it even more difficult for prosecutors to meet the aggressive discovery deadlines.
Powers’ bill charges the police commissioner with giving prosecutors credentials to access NYPD’s electronic evidence records – but the attorneys would only be able to view, download or print the records.
“This bill is a common-sense procedural reform that speeds up processes, allowing district attorneys to do their work and making it easier to comply with state discovery law,” Powers said.
A nearly identical bill was proposed in Albany by mayoral candidate and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, but got little to no traction during the budget debates.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch previously told reporters the database wouldn’t address the core issue of the discovery flaws, calling it a half-measure as she lobbied for the changes that were eventually agreed on in next year’s budget.
Liberal prosecutors, such as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, have lined up behind discovery reforms at the state level.
But the city’s top prosecutors declined to weigh in on Power’s bill.
Spokespersons for the Staten Island and the Brooklyn DAs said their offices were still reviewing the legislation.
Criminal-case dismissals in New York City stood at 41% before the discovery reforms have seen a massive 455% surge in forced dismissals since 2020, when then-Gov. Cuomo signed a law tightening discovery rules on prosecutors, Office of Court Administration data show.
Under the changes to discovery in the budget, judges have the power to consider the prosecutors’ efforts in searching for the information before dismissing a case.
The tweaks also narrow the evidence that must be turned over to remove frivolous requests that have no real bearing on the case, an issue DAs have spoken out about repeatedly since 2019.
But Powers said even with the discovery reform at the state level, the city still needs to modernize its evidence-sharing process.
“Safety is a top priority for all New Yorkers. While we’ve continued to see crime fall, it’s as important as ever that we give prosecutors the tools they need to bring criminals to justice,” he said.
The legislation picked three more cosponsors since Powers introduced it April 24. In addition to Councilwoman Lynn C. Schulman, council members Farah N. Louis, Chris Banks and Lincoln Restler signed on to support the bill.
