NYs lefty leaders have not backed Gov. Hochuls bid to fix states twisted evidence laws despite surge in support

The leaders of the state Legislature have yet to fully endorse Gov.Kathy Hochul’s bid to reshape New York’s twisted evidence laws — even as her plan sees a surge of bipartisan support.Hochul’s proposal — which she argues would help stop criminal cases from being dismissed over “technicalities” — faces an uncertain fate with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) in Albany.Heastie said Tuesday that Assembly members broadly agree so-called discovery laws need to be tweaked, but are still haggling over details during the ongoing state budget negotiations.He expressed concern that some of the Hochul-backed changes would give prosecutors too much power.“I’m not pro-defendant, I’m not pro-prosecutor,” he said.

“I’m pro-justice, wanting a fair exchange of discovery and let the wheels of justice turn.But I think the conversation is in a very good place.”The state budget deadline is technically April 1, but lawmakers have blown past it in the past amid discussions on contentious topics such as bail reform.Neither Heastie nor Stewart-Cousins included Hochul’s proposed discovery changes in their one-house budget proposals for this year.And Stewart-Cousins has said amendments to the discovery laws should happen outside the budget talks, The New York Times reported.Hochul, for her part, has thrown her support behind a crusade by prosecutors across the state to roll back aspects of discovery laws that were changed in 2019’s wave of criminal-justice reforms signed by then-Gov.

Andrew Cuomo and enacted the following year.Her proposal would narrow the scope of evidence that is required to be turned over to the defense.It would also set a timeline for defendants to challenge whether prosecutors are in full compliance and grant judges more leeway on how to sanction prosecutors who run afoul of the rules, short of dismissing a case in its entirety.District attorneys across New York ...