On Wednesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), alongside state district attorneys, held a press briefing to announce reforms in the state budget to improve the discovery process.
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00:00Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all so much. You know, four months ago I vowed to end
00:23the insanity of letting dangerous offenders walk free on minor technicalities. I vowed to protect
00:31the rights of defendants holding more criminals accountable. And I vowed to stand up for victims
00:38for too many years have felt their voices did not matter and make sure they have the justice they
00:44deserve. And you all know this. I vowed I would not sign off on a state budget unless it included
00:53common-sense discovery reforms. And guess what? We got it done.
01:12I want to first of all thank our host, the New York County Courthouse, and our Home District Attorney,
01:18Alvin Bragg. Thank you for all your advocacy and all of our fellow DAs. If I had a better voice,
01:25this is only allergies. I'm not contagious. Everybody looks at me like, does she have
01:29something we got to watch out for? I'm fine. Fine. Just don't sound like it. So all of our DAs have
01:35been introduced, but my gosh, when they team up together for a cause, not just the boroughs,
01:41but also our statewide district attorneys who really banded together to fight for common-sense changes,
01:47I want to thank them for everything they did. Kathy Weil was a driving force on behalf of the New York
01:52City Partnership as well. Thank you.
01:56My staff worked relentlessly on this issue because they knew they were not going home until we got it
02:05done. I want to thank them for hanging in there. Karen Persicilli-Kio, my secretary of the governor,
02:13and Brian Mahana, my counsel who's fairly new on the job, and I hope he stays after all this,
02:19and my policy director, Jackie Bray, and the commissioners you heard spoken of as well.
02:26You know, this is just the power of an idea and what can happen when people mobilize to do the right
02:35thing. And that's exactly what happened here. And I'm talking about, like I said, the DAs and the
02:42advocates. I mean, I did so many roundtables with advocates, many times victims of domestic violence
02:48who felt like people just ignored them, that their voices didn't matter at all, that they just
02:53were meaningless. And after, after event, after event, after event, I knew we could not let them
02:59down. And to the brave survivors who came forward, of all crimes, they spoke so eloquently about painful
03:06experiences because they wanted there to be a change for the people who come after them. And that
03:11is such an inspiration for me. So to all of them, this victory belongs to everyone in this room and
03:19everyone out there who fought so hard for this. Give yourselves a round of applause.
03:32I'll say it again. My number one priority as your governor is to keep everyone safe.
03:39We fixed the flawed bail laws. We drove down gun violence rates to near historic lows. We're focused
03:46on safety. We strengthened our red flag laws. No other state is doing what we're doing and stopping
03:52people from having access to guns who could do harm to others. We secured unprecedented dollars for our
03:59district attorneys and our defenders so they could do their jobs and fight domestic violence. We cracked
04:05down on retail theft. We also saw that our subways have become a frightening place.
04:11And with our dollars at the state level, made sure that there's at least two police officers on every
04:19single overnight train and people are feeling better. And the rates of crime are going down. And I
04:26want to say none of this means anything, though, if we have the police officers who arrest an offender,
04:34bring them downtown. And people who do harm to others get cycled in and out over and over and over
04:43because of an inane loophole that allows that to happen. Now back in 2019, our state legislature
04:51made some long overdue reforms. They were important. And I stand behind many of them because the system was
04:59skewed against the defendants. And I want to thank the legislature for what they did then. But in public
05:06life, we often have to be watching what is happening and look at the data. Five years down the road, what
05:12has happened? I'll tell you what has happened. The pendulum went from one extreme to the other extreme.
05:19And we had to do something about it. Suddenly, rock solid cases are being thrown out over minor, minor
05:27prosecution of missions that had nothing to do with the merits of the case. Not at all. Statewide
05:33dismissals jumped from 10,000 in 2019 over 50,000 in 2024. That's the enormous number of people who
05:42never had their day in court, never had the sense of vindication or justice for victims. Because behind
05:51every one of these senseless dismissal is someone who put themselves out there or a family that put
05:56themselves out there. In some cases, they put themselves in danger. You think of a young
06:01mother trapped in an abusive relationship. She finally has the courage to come forward and tell
06:07her story of what has happened to her in the sanctity of her home, a place that's supposed
06:10to be full of love. Takes a lot of courage. I know because that's the kind of household my
06:16own mother was raised in. Until her abusive father finally moved out and left her and her
06:23mom alone. My mother channeled that experience not to become jaded and turn against others,
06:31but to feel such enormous empathy for victims of domestic violence, something that I share
06:37with her. So when I think about these people who finally come forward at their own risk or an
06:46innocent commuter whose life is cut short by a drunken driver, someone riding on a subway
06:52train who just wants to get to work safely, not be bothered and someone viciously assaults
06:57them. Or even a small business owner like my friend Deborah Konigsberger whose shop has
07:04been repeatedly, repeatedly ransacked by retail thieves. She works so hard. We did an event with
07:12her and her store is magnificent. But she never knows where the little bell rings on the store,
07:18the door, she, someone walks in. They're going to just steal what she works so hard to put
07:23on her shelves. She's with here today. Deborah, can you stand up? These are the people we have
07:39been fighting for. And while I started this conversation way back in January,
07:45it seemed like an eternity ago, my state of the state, each of you have carried the message forward,
07:53developing support for something where there had been none. You lobbied our legislators. You spoke with
07:59the journalists. You wrote columns. You told your stories. And you brought this story to the forefront
08:05and ultimately persuaded the legislators to rebalance the scales of justice. That's all we're looking
08:12for. Rebalancing the scales of justice. And especially our DAs who stepped up and had to leave their jobs
08:20and be on late night phone calls on Easter morning and on Passover and taking time from their families,
08:28working with particularly Carl Heastie, the speaker who was persuaded that this is something that needed
08:36to happen. And I thank him and leader Andre Stewart-Cousins for finally, after many, many weeks
08:44of hard fought negotiations and conversations, helping us get to a place we finally can do justice for these
08:51people. So cases will no longer be thrown out over trivia errors that have no bearing on someone's guilt or
08:58innocence. Like hitting the wrong button on a surveillance video or submitting a police personnel
09:05file just a day late. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. But that's what the law was,
09:10that they had to throw those out. We're leaving out a minor report that already has a duplication,
09:17has no bearing on the case at all. So for the first time, we'll be easing this enormous burden on our
09:25prosecutors by narrowing what they have to turn over. It's that simple. And we're ending the gotcha game
09:31where defense lawyers cannot wait to the last possible second and raise a perceived discovery
09:39omission, say, gotcha. Now it's going to be thrown out. They perfected this, many of them. And who's left
09:47behind? A victim without justice. So this means prosecutors can focus where it matters. Focus
09:57on the real evidence, focus on accountability and focus on justice for victims. Now, as I said,
10:04I've said all along, I would hold up over a $250 billion budget on this issue. And here's why.
10:13Behind all the legal jargon that some may not quite comprehend, there's real people's lives at stake
10:21here. That's why I wouldn't leave. That's why I couldn't walk away from this fight. You can't have
10:29violent criminals or people who are offenders who hurt other human beings be able to walk free
10:34because of evidence that was irrelevant but may have been excluded. Now, we want them to have justice.
10:43We want there to be fairness in court. Of course, they'll always be. That's why everyone who's an
10:48elected official takes an oath of office. I took the same oath of office. But we have to think about
10:53the consequences on real people for the first time in a long time. And I want to make sure
10:59that when we look on this together, look back at this arduous struggle, we'll say,
11:06we fought, we won, and we got it done. Thank you very much.
11:12Thank you. Let me turn it over to our president of the District Attorneys Association statewide,
11:29Richmond County District Attorney Michael McMahon.
11:31Come on, we can do better than that. Governor Kathy Hochul of the great state of New York.
11:48May it please the court. Oops, wait a second. I'm not here for that today. But I do have to say
12:02respects to Judge Joseph Zayas, who's our chief administrative judge, Judge Adams, who's in charge
12:07of this courthouse. Thank you so much for allowing us here at the end of the day. We DAs know we have to
12:12appear before the judges, so we better be respectful. But Governor, we join in everyone
12:18in this room to thank you for your incredible leadership and for really digging in your heels
12:23on an issue that is so important to so many New Yorkers as we see here today. And as you've heard
12:29the voices as we all have dug our heels in on this battle that was so important. And you mentioned,
12:36if I could be so bold as to just slightly correct, because you said in a way that this initiative
12:42started in January, but actually it was a year ago, April, that I had just become the president of
12:50the state DA's association, that we were in your office in Midtown, us, the city DA's, and we were
12:57talking about your initiative to combat retail theft and what a problem that had become in the state.
13:02And Kathy Wilde was there as well. And we talked about that and the initiative that we're taking
13:08and the laws were changed. We can aggregate cases now, we can protect retail workers. And we talked
13:13about the biggest problem we saw facing fairness and equity and public safety was the discovery laws.
13:19And as you said, passed with good intentions in 2019, but there have been some unintended consequences
13:25from them. And the way I described it then to Kathy and to yourself was that in many ways,
13:30our criminal justice process has become a game of chance. Our courthouses have become casinos where
13:37defense lawyers can hold their cards to the last minute, maybe roll their dice and get a case dismissed
13:43because of something that wasn't relevant, wasn't material, had no bearing on the case.
13:48And we had to then explain to victims of crime that their case was dismissed because
13:54of a game of chance, if you will. And we needed to end that. And you know, it's not a game of chance.
14:01It was just unfair to victims, but in many ways, it's unfair to those who were charged with the crime as
14:07well. Because someone would be charged with the robbery and be convicted because the evidence was
14:13collected and presented and the case proceeded. And someone else would commit the same crime. And because a
14:19piece of paper was left unsubmitted or unexchanged because a police officer's notebook wasn't collected
14:27because a body-worn camera wasn't collected and turned over, no bearing on the case, the cases were
14:32getting dismissed. And so you said, we are not going to allow this game of chance, this unfairness,
14:37this gamesmanship to go on. And you said, let's get to work and do something about it. And I commend you
14:43for your commitment. And I learned through a process like this, I think we all learned,
14:50my great colleagues from the city, Darcel Clark, Eric Gonzalez, Melinda Katzen, Alvin Bragg, we learned,
14:58some of us were reintroduced to the legislative process. Some of them were dealing with the
15:03legislative process for the first time. What an experience, right, team? We're glad to go back.
15:08By the way, we're glad to go back to the courtroom, Your Honor. But we learned how committed you are,
15:16what a great staff you have. You mentioned Brian and Karen Persicelli-Keogh and Jackie Bray,
15:25and I see Karen Scherr and I see Sabrina there, Breyer, who all worked so hard on this day after
15:30day after day. And you have an incredible team and I thank you for that. And Kathy Wilde, you were part
15:34of that first discussion and your efforts in the New York City partnership and all the business
15:39leaders who were here. Ms. Koenigsberg, the individual shop owner, but everybody who's here,
15:43from the Staten Island bids to the Albany bids to the Buffalo bids who all came together. Thank you for
15:49doing that. And also the members, you know, you also learned in this position what incredible people
15:55district attorneys are. Because there's so many, obviously one in each county across the state,
16:02some big counties like Brooklyn and Queens and Manhattan, some medium size like little old Staten
16:07Island. And then all the way from Hamilton, or Herkimer, Hamilton County, is Marsha King Perdue. By
16:16the way, Governor, she's still the only part-time DA in the state of New York and we need to fix that.
16:21But also Susan Cachese, who's here from Westchester, and the president-elect of DASNY. My dear friend,
16:32Mary Pat Donnelly. We, and then others as well who came, the great Bill Fitzpatrick from Syracuse.
16:38Lee Kindlin, who's a former defense attorney, was never a prosecutor. But as soon as he came into the
16:46office, he realized that, hey, criminal justice system needs some tweaks and we need a leader
16:51who's going to do that. And it wasn't easy, but you did it. And even our friends on the other side
16:55of the bar, our friends at the bar, the defense attorneys as well, who had a thoughtful and
17:01meaningful conversation, we thanked them. And you said the legislature. It is true, we spent a lot of
17:07time with Speaker Carl Hastie, more than we thought we ever would. On Zoom meetings, we were with him at
17:12his dentist. We were at him at his school meetings. We saw, right? Sorry. Okay. Melinda, who's an
17:19experienced politician saying, stop, Mike. But this is a great moment and one that we should relish.
17:29And so on behalf of the DAs, Morgan Pat Donnelly, executive director, we say thank you. On behalf of
17:34the people of Staten Island, who I represent, each one of us represent those of our county, we say thank you.
17:38To the people of the great state of New York, thank you for your trust in us. Thank you for
17:42your trust in this great governor. And let's go on and make sure that we now implement these laws and
17:48continue to be mindful of the words that are emblazoned on the portico outside this courthouse,
17:55which I first saw 40 years ago as a young lawyer carrying another lawyer's litigation bag. We used to
18:01have litigation bags back in the day for young lawyers. And there are the words of George Washington,
18:06where it so proudly and so greatly says that the true administration of justice is the firmest
18:12pillar of good government. You restored that pillar for us all governor. We thank you for that. I'm so
18:18happy to be here. And now it's my equal privilege to introduce to you the great district attorney from
18:24the incredible county of the Bronx, the incredible Darcelle Clark.
18:41Yes, that was quite a challenge for us to do this. We were seeing each other every day. So I've seen the
18:47the five of us together now finally again, we were seeing each other every day, two and three times a
18:52day. So I thought we would have separation anxiety. But in every county, we still have a lot more work
18:57to do. So it's easy to readjust again. But thank you. And Mike, you talked about being DAs and how
19:04important it is and being immersed in the legislative process. After going through this, I know why I did not
19:10run for the legislature. Okay, I know that I commend them for that's just not for me. But anyway, first of
19:18all, Governor Hochul, I have to thank you and your entire legal team for taking the charge to make sure
19:26that discovery was included in this budget. And during this legislative session, we needed these changes
19:33and your steadfastness and making sure that nothing else was going to happen until discovery happened.
19:39We were 100% behind that because we really need that.
19:48And I'm so grateful that you allowed us to have our shared experience with you to make sure
19:54that we came out with some type of impactful legislation. So thank you for that. I also want
20:01to thank Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins for her openness to make changes, right? Because this was
20:07important to the legislature in 2019 when they made these changes. And I stood behind them for it was
20:14transformative and we needed it. So I want to thank her for keeping an open mind in spite of the fact
20:19that they own this, that they did this in 2019 to have the open mind to say, let's see if there needs
20:26to be changes. And of course, Kathy Weil and you, the whole business, the partnership and all the business
20:30leaders and all the advocates that came out to raise your voices when we needed people to hear you most,
20:39you were there to deliver. So thank you for your tireless efforts to make sure that we got the changes
20:45that we need to help victims of crime.
20:55Now, Mike McMahon, the DA from Richmond and our DASNY president said, spent more time with Speaker
21:01Carl Hasty than he ever thought. Well, that's different for me because not only is he our speaker,
21:06but he's my assemblyman. Okay? So I speak to him all the time. And let me tell you, long before we
21:12are trying to have these changes on discovery and everything else, Carl and I go back and forth
21:17on criminal justice all the time. But he's somebody that I know is a good man that believed in this.
21:23And I want to thank him and his entire team for their collaboration. He remained steadfast in the
21:30legislative process and took great strides to make sure that every perspective was included.
21:36He personally immersed himself in this process. I have never seen anything like this. He stood there with us,
21:44line by line, word by word, as we work this out. And you know what? This discovery is part of his legacy.
21:51And I know that because I've known him for a long time and I've known what he's done. That change in 2019
21:57was part of his legacy. Well, what also is part of his legacy now and this legislature is that they had the sense
22:03enough to know that changes needed to be made and instead of digging themselves and, you know,
22:10standing their ground and saying we're not changing that we think it's purpose, they made sure that the
22:15changes got done. So I want to thank Speaker Hastie and his team as well as the legislative
22:22legislature because if it wasn't for them, these negotiations were crucial, but they generated
22:27the monumental compromise that really came for us to finally have the discovery laws that we need now
22:34and the changes. So when the laws were changed in 2019, it was a major step forward, transformative.
22:40And we as DAs were supportive of the necessary reforms. And we want to continue the transparency
22:48that is important in discovery because it upholds procedural justice. And we want to make sure that
22:55everybody knows that the DA is in the business about procedural justice. And today we are happy to
23:03announce that through our collaborative efforts, we have now addressed the unintended consequences
23:10that came along with the initial discovery changes. And now we don't have those dismissals for, you know,
23:19unreasonable reasons happening now. Now we were able to change those things so that now these simple
23:28amendments, victims now will receive justice. Defenders will continue to have the necessary
23:36information that they have. And you know what, even with these changes, New York will still have
23:42discovery of laws that are most, the most progressive in the nation. And this is something that we
23:49as New Yorkers should be proud of. You know, all stakeholders took great care to consider the data
24:00that was showing that case dismissals were happening and that defendants were spending more time in
24:07custody. But ultimately, we did strike the right balance by creating common sense changes to ensure that
24:16justice is served. But most importantly, that public safety remains a top priority. And I stand here proudly
24:25on behalf of the people of the Bronx, inspired by my dedicated staff, who do this work each and every day. And it's
24:34hard, but they do it every day, because they believe in the work that we have to do on behalf of all the
24:40people of the people of Bronx County. But I want to specifically call out some members of my staff.
24:46And that's Julian O'Connor, my general counsel, Gina Mignona, deputy general counsel, David Cohn, who is our
24:53senior appeals counsel, and Kate Theobald, who is my legislative director. They spent countless hours
25:02reading word for word, line by line, of these bills, and were just so helpful in helping me
25:09to understand what changes we needed to go about. So I want to personally thank them in front of all
25:15of you because of what they do.
25:21So outside my lived experience as an assistant DA, a judge for 16 years, nine years as a DA,
25:29one thing that I know is for sure, you got to have smart, bright people walking with you and working
25:34with you to make sure that you get this impactful work done. And that's what I have. And those staff
25:39members and all the members of my staff. So again, thank you for so much for that. And I'm just
25:44hopeful that the changes to the discovery law will provide, and no, I know it will, it's going to provide
25:50fair justice to everyone involved in the criminal justice system. And this accomplishment marks
25:57another significant step toward this momentous day for the people of the Bronx, on my behalf,
26:04and for all New Yorkers. Thank you.
26:11And it's my pleasure to introduce my colleague from the County of Kings, Brooklyn District Attorney,
26:18Eric Gonzalez.
26:19Good afternoon, everyone. And thank you, Governor Hochul, for your leadership, for your resolve,
26:35to your staff, for all their hard work throughout this process. I'm Eric Gonzalez. I'm the elected
26:41district attorney of Brooklyn, New York. That's Kings County. And on behalf of the 2.7 million people who
26:49call Brooklyn their home, we are grateful for the changes that are happening in our criminal justice
26:56system. You know, last year, Governor, I had the privilege of announcing that it was the safest year
27:03in Brooklyn's history in terms of gun violence. Gun violence had gone down a lot. Since record
27:10keeping had been established, this was the safest year in terms of the victimization of gun violence.
27:16But when we talked about public sentiment, about overall safety, there was still a lot of challenges.
27:23People still felt that, you know, there were too many public safety challenges. And I think that
27:30discovery was part of that, that the perception was that people were not being held accountable,
27:35that our survivors and victims of crime were not getting due process in the justice system,
27:40because cases were getting dismissed needlessly for things that were not relevant.
27:47And your commitment to stop a quarter of a billion dollar budget to make sure that this got resolved
27:56is so important. And I am thankful to you and I am thankful for your team, thankful for the legislature,
28:02for my colleague DA's across the city and the state who, you know, have thousands of prosecutors
28:08who work tirelessly every day to support victims and survivors and to increase the public sentiment
28:15of safety. New York City and New York State are the safest places in the country. And we have to make sure
28:23people understand that. And by resolving this issue of discovery, I think it's going to lead to more
28:29people having confidence in the work that our offices do. It's going to help the morale of the
28:34police department, understanding when they make arrests, that these cases will not be dismissed,
28:40unless it's in the interest of justice or there's some evidentiary issues, but not on technicalities.
28:45And so on behalf of all of the survivors who came to our offices, who spoke out, who mobilized and allowed
28:53the legislature to understand, it wasn't just prosecutors wanting to send people to
28:59prison, but that the system needed help, the system needed to be reformed, and that there's no shame to
29:05go back five years later and look at the data and say, was it working the way we anticipated,
29:12or do we need to make changes? And so I am grateful to the legislature for listening to your voices,
29:17but this could not have happened without all of you speaking out. So thank you to the partnership and
29:23all of the people who put a lot of time and energy. I'm grateful. Many of you know my own personal
29:30history around violence. My brother lost his life to gun violence. And so this is not just simply an
29:38issue as DA, but I understand what it means to go to court and expect to receive justice. This work that
29:47you've helped us get done, Governor. And I thank you for your confidence in the city DAs to talk about
29:54the policy and not the politics of this work, but how to get this work done. I am grateful as a crime
30:01victim survivor myself, but also on behalf of all the people that I serve every day. Thank you. Thank
30:08you to my colleagues. And as DA Clark rightfully said, thank you to our staff members across the state who
30:15work each and every day to protect victims, to improve public safety, and also to make sure that
30:22we have the most fair justice system in this country. And last words, DA Clark made this, but I'll say it again.
30:32It's a victory for the people of the state of New York. We maintain the things about discovery that were
30:37important, their early exchange of information, a really broad amount of information, probably more
30:46information than any defender actually needs to represent their clients. But things that were
30:51important to the legislature, we continue to make sure that all of that happened. We did not roll this
30:56back. We fixed it. Thank you, Governor.
30:58Please welcome Queen's District Attorney, Melinda Katz. The great District Attorney, Melinda Katz.
31:17Thank you very much. So DA McMahon, I wasn't telling you to stop. I was trying to point out with
31:25sign with my hands, which I guess I didn't do, that Carl, you know, was with us so many hours of the day,
31:31through all the holidays, Easter, Passover, I probably shouldn't talk about that. But that, you know,
31:37we also went to doctor's appointments with him. We were there with his dog. So it really was a joint effort.
31:43I want to thank the speaker. I also want to thank this governor. I have to tell you, she is one tough governor.
31:50I have to tell you, we didn't think this was going to happen, right? And we were all talking and saying,
32:03well, last year, April, we thought about it. We talked about it. We tried getting it done.
32:07And it was a very difficult thing at the end of the session last year when it didn't happen.
32:12And so I want to thank the governor for standing steadfast. I want to thank the speaker for being
32:16with us in every aspect of his life during those days. I want to thank the Andrew Stewart cousins,
32:21everyone that was involved, and the legislators who understood that this needed to be changed.
32:26Now, I bring with me a little bit of a different perspective than the other DAs. I was a legislator
32:32for several years. And I'm now prosecuting, 31 years later, under laws that I co-sponsored and passed
32:41in the legislature. So I bring with me a little bit of a different perspective. And I have to tell you,
32:47this idea that we're going back, it is just not true. In last year alone, over 1,400 laws were signed
32:57into law last year alone. That means the laws that existed before were then changed. It happens every
33:06single day. It takes effective leaders to understand that laws need to change with the
33:11society in which we are living. You cannot have an active and effective government without having
33:17those changes. So I want to thank everyone that is involved. In 2020, it was the right thing to do.
33:24We needed to turn over evidence to defendants so that they could prepare for their defense,
33:29so that they can have working knowledge of the evidence against them, so that the prosecution was
33:34fair and equitable, as my colleagues talked about, throughout the state of New York. But you know
33:40what's also effective leadership? It's also looking at data that happens after several years on the
33:46issues that you're talking about. So now we have five years of data. Now we have a governing body
33:54that looked at the data and said something is wrong when thousands of cases are getting dismissed,
33:59not for the substance of the case, but for technical details, for that 20th memo book that wasn't given
34:04over, for that transfer slip of a prison inmate that happened. Cases are getting dismissed, and then we
34:11five and we 62 in the state of New York have to call the victims and say, I hate to tell you,
34:19not only is your case dismissed, you're not going to get accountability for that crime, but your order of
34:23protection that was with your case. By the way, that's gone too. And that's a really difficult call
34:34to make. And think about what 2019 was when this law originally was passed and needed. Think about where
34:41we were. Body cans had just come online for the New York City Police Department just in 2019. No one
34:49could have imagined the amount of materials that were going to have to be turned over pursuant to
34:57this new law. My office alone reviewed 1.7 million discovery files and over 150,000 hours of body cams.
35:06You couldn't have figured that out in 2019. So you look at where you are in life and you look at where
35:13society is and you look at the challenges that each law has every single legislative session.
35:22And you work it and you make sure that New Yorkers really have a voice and make sure that they know
35:28that the government's behind them when they are hurt and the government is also looking for equality in
35:33the justice system. And so I really thank everyone for this work that needs to evolve every day. It's so
35:43important and it is make no mistake about it. It is the sign of effective leadership when our leaders
35:52change and be flexible on the laws of the state. So I thank our leaders. I thank the governor, the speaker,
35:59the Senate. I also thank my colleagues, by the way. It really was an amazing thing sitting on Zooms for
36:07hours at a time and making sure this law because it was so important. And yes, we did have anxiety
36:13when we had to separate ourselves. There's no doubt. I felt like calling you the next morning and saying,
36:17how are you doing? You know, because we were together for so long and so often. So thank you for
36:25responding to the needs of all New Yorkers. And now it is my pleasure to welcome the Manhattan District
36:32Attorney Alvin Bragg.
36:46Thank you, Governor. Thank you.
36:49For your steadfastness, your strong leadership, leaning in, convening all of us. We thank everyone
37:02in the room. You convened us. So thank you for helping us get this done.
37:06And it's been quite a collaborative effort. I don't want to retread what all of my colleagues have
37:18said, but I would be remiss if I didn't thank small business owners, including the one in Manhattan,
37:25the many in Manhattan, I should say, and so many advocates who joined. And I know over the years,
37:38we've all given examples of cases that have been dismissed and dismissed for no good reason.
37:46And I guess we can stop now because it's been changed, but I want to just bring us back
37:52to that. I was I was sitting here thinking I have the honor of introducing next an advocate and survivor.
37:59But I think what drove so many of us, whether it's the partnership, whether it's other advocates,
38:03whether it's the other elect is so many who are part of this effort. I just cannot imagine.
38:11My staff does it. I've done it. But being a survivor sitting in a district attorney's office
38:17and being told your case is getting dismissed, not because the prosecutor didn't believe you,
38:25not because it wasn't proof beyond a reasonable doubt. But, for example, in one of my cases,
38:32because we found an additional photo of your injuries, more proof of the crime, your case is dismissed.
38:42That wouldn't be true in any other state in this country. And now it's not true in New York.
38:56So I'm grateful to all of you. I think other days have said it. We now have the implementation part,
39:01and we will lean and we'll also do that together. But really, to bring us back to why we're here,
39:07it is my distinct honor to introduce a non-elected, an advocate, the kind that when we talk about
39:18is right on the ground, working side by side with people affected by these laws. So thank you for all
39:26all you do, Angelina Rosado.
39:35Angelina Rosado
39:41Oh, ciao. Hi, y'all.
39:46I'm not nervous in that thing. Oh, I guess I could say, mama, we made it.
39:58My name is Angelina Rosado.
40:02I come before you as a survivor of both domestic and sexual violence.
40:06I turn my pain into my purpose. I am now the co-founder and executive director of Sisters in
40:17Purple. We're a trauma-informed, survivor-led organization.
40:22Today is more than just a press conference for us. It is a celebration of courage, collaboration,
40:34and long overdue change.
40:37I stand here filled of hope. I literally named my daughter Hope, because that's just what I'm
40:51going to have to embody for the rest of my life. And pride, because we got it done.
40:57Survivors, advocates, lawmakers, Governor Hochul. We all came together to ensure that New York's
41:12discovery law finally carries the right language and the right protection for all that are affected.
41:19This isn't just a policy fix or minor tweaks. For us, this is a lifeline.
41:24Before these changes, dangerous gaps in this law left many survivors of domestic violence and sexual
41:33assault vulnerable. Forced to relive trauma in a system that promised justice, but far too often
41:43only delivered pain. In New York, over 42% of women have experienced intimate partner violence.
41:54That is not just a statistic. That is me. That is all my sisters in purple and every single victim
42:06of domestic violence. These are women that you work with, women that you love.
42:11And for so often we were told that our voices didn't matter. But today we changed that. On April 10th,
42:24Governor Hochul invited a group of survivors to Albany. Literally like two days before.
42:30Literally. She did that and she allowed us to use our voices. We shared our stories and advocates and our
42:43advocacy for change of this law. She didn't just make space. She created this space.
42:48She didn't just listen to us. She gave us a platform. Literally.
42:59She opened doors that had been shut for so long.
43:02And I thank you, Governor. Because before that, survivors may have been asked to be in the room,
43:15but we weren't asked to speak in the room.
43:20With the changes that Governor Hochul championed, the law now better protects victims from being
43:26re-victimized by a system that is supposed to protect them.
43:33I want to finish off with this quote, and I love a good quote, and it is of my own.
43:48But I want you guys to understand, survivors are not voiceless. Everyone else just wants us on mute.
43:57Thank you, each and every one of you, for being here today.
44:06Thank you all very much. Please remain seated as we take photos.
44:11All right, we're going to have some time to post a couple of questions.
44:17Not because we don't like you, but because we heard the others are pretty hoarse,
44:20so we're going to have to keep playing.
44:22On topic, Iona?
44:25The ink is dry. It's been dry for a few weeks now.
44:41But as you know, this is one of my top priorities to make sure that we can eliminate the
44:46ability for cases to be dismissed based on minor technicalities and also the timing with respect
44:51to turning over evidence. But I will defer to a district attorney who helped. It is not going to
44:57change at this point, is my message. It's going to be voted on. It will not change from what it is
45:01right now. But anybody else want to describe it? Mike?
45:04Mike? Mike?
45:04Yeah. Thank you so much. So as to the specifics of the bill, in broad strokes, what the bill does
45:10is still requires us to turn over materials as quickly and as efficiently as we can.
45:17But when the defense makes a motion or challenges that we've done that, whether or not we've done
45:22that, the court is directed to look at whether or not we act in good faith and in due diligence.
45:27And if we did, also to look at what type of harm has been suffered by the defense, if any,
45:33and to fashion a remedy that is proportionate to that harm. And also to look at the totality of
45:40the circumstances of what we've provided, not sort of go through a line by line and look at little
45:44things that have been missed, if everything has been provided. It will also, we have to file
45:48what's called a certificate of compliance when we are done. And we are ready or we think we've
45:53provided everything that we have and that we can have. And then if the defense has objections,
46:00they have to make those objections within 35 days, raise it to the court and say, hey,
46:04I'm missing something or, and to confer with us, there's a duty to confer so that we can make sure
46:09that the defense has everything that they need and that the case can proceed to adjust outcome
46:14based on what the law and facts require, not some sort of gotcha element that's built into the law.
46:22So that's what the law basically provides. It also limits to some extent, to a small degree,
46:27what we have to gather and provide. The current language says most items that are relevant to
46:33the case, the language will now say relevant to the charges of the case. So just to narrow it a little
46:38bit, but certainly if a defendant ever feels or their lawyer ever feels that something is outstanding,
46:43they can certainly ask the prosecution, they can ask the court to provide it without the case being
46:48dismissed and a victim being left out in the cold of the justice system.
46:52So you know this is addressing the issue of cases being dismissed and those numbers continue to rise?
46:57We certainly do. We think that this will address that directly head on and have a big impact. And we also
47:03think that it will affect indirectly the amount of material up front so that the prosecutors can
47:10continue to do what the job is, is to gather the evidence and proceed based on the facts and the law of a case.
47:18I also think part of the, you know, the reforms to this legislation, it should probably help increase
47:31dispositions, move things more quickly through the system. What we had seen during the discovery process,
47:37things had slowed down, more people have been held in custody for longer waiting for their days in trial,
47:43because there was so much litigation around discovery. This streamlines that. And I think
47:49this will be a really substantive part of due process, moving our cases more quickly through the
47:53justice system, getting people out of, you know, jail, including Rikers Island, and encouraging the
48:00parties because part of the process envisions prosecutors and defenders and the court coming together. Judge Zayas
48:07was here earlier. I'm trying to streamline things so that there's quicker access to our court system. So
48:14I think that's going to be a tremendous outcome as well.
48:17Anything else on topic?
48:21This has become a theme of budgets recently. You holding it up looking for criminal justice
48:30in the state, right? Should we be looking for more tweaks next year? How do we know when we're done?
48:48My decisions are data driven. It came to light that there had been a dramatic increase in the number
48:54of dismissals. Again, unintended consequences, perhaps, that we look at from 2019 to 2024.
49:02I will always be looking to see whether there's areas where we're failing the public and keeping
49:07them safe. I don't have an agenda item right now that I'm going to use for next year's budget,
49:12but the district attorneys and other people who are part of the criminal justice system, their voices
49:17are important to me. That's where I find out, is there anything else I can do as the governor of the
49:22state of New York to keep people safer. So not closing the door, but we'll be focusing on it over
49:28the next year as we develop our policies next summer and fall.
49:31All right. I want to thank our DAs for joining us.
49:34Thank you. Thank you.
49:35Thank you. I can't speak to you.
49:37I can't hear it.
49:52I'm having a little trouble hearing the question.
50:15We worked very hard to make sure we can make adjustments where there are failures. One of them
50:20certainly was our discovery process. Another area I looked at closely was what is happening with our
50:27campaign finance bill. This was something that was important to the leaders of the legislature
50:31and all it does is it mirrors the New York City public financing system, which is very successful.
50:38So we're just matching up with what they do in New York City.
50:41Why do you have a new experience here in the process?
50:44I don't know what?
50:44Do you have a new experience here in the process?
50:47Well, this is an opportunity I have is to be able to focus on parties that I have that I've talked
50:52about that we've these been raised before by legislators, by the leadership and people are
50:58raising concerns. And it's my responsibility to be responsive. Lieutenant governor bill is simply
51:03something that makes sense. We've talked about it for a number of years and setting up a system that
51:09is more analogous to what you have for the president and the vice president or how lieutenant governors run
51:14on the same ticket in the in the primary and the general with with the governor and they select
51:19their own in many, many other states. So this is also a chance to do cleanup and kind of look at
51:24where we are out of sync with what other states do and make sure that we mirror that.
51:28Great. Thanks, everybody.
51:37Last one. Where did the question come from?
51:39We saw earlier today a massive disruption on the Long Island Railroad because of a failure of the
51:49Amtrak electrical system. In my judgment, this is a forewarning of what people are going to be heading
51:56into as this work begins on the East River Tunnel. They wrote me I wrote a letter saying we have other
52:04ideas. I personally think the work should be done evenings and weekends. So it's the least
52:09disruptive to our riders. I also suggested that the trains can come into Grand Central Station.
52:16We can take some pressure off. I also suggested that we can add more more cars to the trains at
52:22capacity. So all of these in my mind are on the table. We did receive a letter today acknowledging our
52:29ideas. They're willing to have a conversation with us. So hopefully this will lead to a productive
52:35resolution so we don't leave our commuters in the situation they were on the Long Island Railroad
52:40this morning. That is not acceptable to me. Amtrak knows they can do better and I'm going to help them
52:45get there. Thank you.