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Q&A
Challenges in complying with discovery laws
8:44:21
ยท
3 min
Council Member Yusef Salaam inquires about the difficulties prosecutors face in complying with discovery laws. The discussion focuses on management and technological issues, emphasizing the need for better staffing and systems to handle discovery efficiently.
- Tina Luongo explains that the problem is not with the law but with management and technology
- The importance of paralegals and litigation assistants in handling discovery is highlighted
- A comparison to the federal system's handling of discovery is made
Yusef Salaam
8:44:21
So I Question about the discovery.
Tina Luongo
8:44:23
Yes, please.
Yusef Salaam
8:44:24
Why is it so difficult from the defense's perspective for the New York City Prosecutors to comply with the discovery laws?
8:44:33
Is it a managerial or a technological problem?
Tina Luongo
8:44:37
What I have been saying is it's not a law fix, It's a management fix.
8:44:41
And the the management fix here's here's the reality.
8:44:45
NYPD holds all the evidence for the prosecutors.
8:44:48
They have to process it.
8:44:49
NYPD has to process it, store it, and and hand it over to the prosecutors.
8:44:55
No money was put on the table in 2019 to build out a system.
8:45:00
The prosecutors admitted today that they're just building that system out.
8:45:04
It's a system called NICE.
8:45:06
Four of the five prosecutors are gonna be using it.
8:45:09
D.
8:45:09
A.
8:45:09
McMahon is opting out of that.
8:45:12
That is going to allow NYPD to share electronically that data and the prosecutors then to review it, analyze it, and turn it over to us electronically.
8:45:23
That's key.
8:45:24
There is also a bill that's sponsored by senator Myrie and assemblyman Micah Lasher that would allow the prosecutors automatic access to take the discovery from NYPD themselves instead of waiting.
8:45:40
The other issue I wanna say is they talked a lot earlier and I agree, we all agree that we need more staffing because of discovery.
8:45:49
You need more perhaps they need more prosecutors.
8:45:52
Our argument would be we need more defenders.
8:45:55
But more importantly, do you know who we need?
8:45:58
We need paralegals, what we call litigation assistants at Legal Aid Society.
8:46:03
Non attorneys trained on analyzing, organizing, getting the case ready.
8:46:10
Do you know the model that works out there?
8:46:13
It's called law firms.
8:46:14
Law firms in our city and across this country deal with terabytes and terabytes of discovery.
8:46:21
The model they use is they put paralegals in place first so that lawyers could lawyer.
8:46:31
So that if you're a prosecutor, your ADA can move that domestic violence case to a trial or a hearing.
8:46:40
If you're a defense attorney, your attorney's resources are to be over to court or at Rikers or investigating a case to be ready for trial.
8:46:48
Moneys need to be used to put that type of staffing in place, and more money needs to be put toward the technology to get it set.
8:46:59
And the key here is if we can do that, the law doesn't need to be rolled back because it's not the law that's going to create the efficiency.
8:47:09
It's staffing and technology.
Juval Scott
8:47:12
And I would just note that in the federal system, you know, that is the way that it's constructed.
8:47:16
We've been dealing with terabytes of information since before the discovery law here.
8:47:23
We had the structure that Tina mentions with paralegals and different staffing, and it allows attorneys to really be able to process through the information efficiently.
8:47:33
It's the right thing to do.
8:47:34
It's the constitutional thing to do.
8:47:36
People should know what the evidence is against them.
8:47:39
When prosecutors charge cases, they know that.
8:47:41
There's no reason to delay handing that over to defense counsel, and I'd note that when cases are picked up and go into federal court, the New York NYPD doesn't seem to have a problem handing it over to federal prosecutors, so it seems to be something that is reserved for prosecutions here in the city as opposed to when they want it to go to something different.