DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

PRESIDENT
MICHAEL E. MCMAHON
RICHMOND COUNTY

PRESIDENT-ELECT
March 24, 2025 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MARY PAT DONNELLY
RENSSELAER COUNTY DARCEL CLARK

1st VICE PRESIDENT

Hon. Andrea Stewart-Cousins BRONX COUNTY

JAMES RITTS Senate Majority Leader WEEDEN A. WETMORE

ONTARIO COUNTY CHEMUNG COUNTY
The Capitol, Room 330
2nd VICE PRESIDENT MICHAEL D. FERRARESE
RAYMOND A. TIERNEY Albany, NY 12247 CHENANGO COUNTY
SUFFOLK COUNTY
ANDREW J. WYLIE
3rd VICE PRESIDENT
ANNE T. DONNELLY
Hon. Carl Heastie CLINTON COUNTY

NASSAU COUNTY Assembly Speaker PATRICK A. PERFETTI

CORTLAND COUNTY
SECRETARY
EDWARD D. SASLAW
Legislative Office Building, Room 932 JEFFREY S. CARPENTER
ADA, ORANGE COUNTY Albany, NY 12248 HERKIMER COUNTY

TREASURER KRISTYNA S. MILLS

DANIEL BRESNAHAN
ADA, NASSAU COUNTY
RE: 2025-26 Executive Budget Discovery Amendments JEFFERSON COUNTY

ERIC GONZALEZ
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
MORGAN BITTON
Dear Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Heastie: KINGS COUNTY

WILLIAM GABOR
COUNSEL MADISON COUNTY
ROBERT J. CONFLITTI We, the undersigned, are the elected and appointed District Attorneys of our respective
counties outside of New York City. We write to you in collective support of Governor SANDRA DOORLEY*
MONROE COUNTY
Hochul’s proposed changes to New York State’s discovery law. WILLIAM J. FITZPATRICK*
ONONDAGA COUNTY

As the chief law enforcement officers in counties of varying sizes outside the five DAVID M. HOOVLER*
ORANGE COUNTY
boroughs of New York City, we want to share with you the impact of the current
MELINDA KATZ
discovery law and the need for commonsense changes that ensure both that those QUEENS COUNTY

accused of crime timely receive all the information that they need to mount a defense KAREN HEGGEN
SARATOGA COUNTY
and that victims receive the justice they deserve.
ROBERT M. CARNEY*
SCHENECTADY COUNTY
New York State’s current discovery law was enacted in 2019 and requires prosecutors JOSEPH G. FAZZARY
in thousands of cases to retrieve, prepare, and disclose a broad range of materials SCHUYLER COUNTY

within a narrow time frame, under penalty of dismissal of the case. Discoverable BRIDGET G. BRENNAN
SPECIAL NARCOTICS
information is often voluminous or duplicative and despite best efforts and due
JASON M. CARUSONE
diligence, district attorney’s offices frequently face difficulties obtaining information WARREN COUNTY

from agencies and entities that are in actual possession of the materials. The timelines J. ANTHONY JORDAN*
to turn over that information are tied to a speedy trial clock and despite a prosecutor’s WASHINGTON COUNTY

best efforts cases can be dismissed if the time to comply runs out. * PAST PRESIDENT OF DAASNY

In each of our counties, every day we experience an overwhelming burden of

discovery demands and a staggering amount of motion practice related to discovery.
Our staff is deluged with responses to lengthy motions that often have little to do with
a defendant’s guilt or innocence. Examples abound of motions containing hundreds of
pages or more, involving documents that are tangentially related to a case and that
have little bearing on a defendant’s guilt or innocence. Motion practice has in many
instances become a tactic that defense attorneys use not only to stall the disposition of
a case, but to “wait it out,” in hopes that the prosecutor will drop the ball and fail to
disclose some minor piece of information. Some examples of discovery items where
motions have been made include: requests for the oaths of office of court officers who
allegedly witnessed a crime; the full names of bystanders who were not victims or
witnesses when a crime was committed; and records of police disciplinary proceedings
where the charges were found to be unsubstantiated. One particularly eye-opening

3 COLUMBIA PLACE, ALBANY, NEW YORK 12210

TEL: (518) 598-8968 EMAIL: PRESIDENT@DAASNY.ORG
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 DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

motion was made for the prosecution to disclose the name and contact information for
the passenger in a vehicle that the defendant was driving when the crime was allegedly
committed. That passenger was the defendant’s live-in girlfriend!
While those examples may sound absurd, motions like that are being made in criminal
cases in every county in the state. Unfortunately, our current discovery laws provide
for dismissal of a case without regard to the relevance of the discovery material and
without regard to whether the defense was harmed by the missing or late disclosure.
The result of those features of the discovery law has been, at best, a slower and less
efficient disposition of cases and, at worst, the inappropriate dismissal of otherwise
viable cases and the resulting failure of the system to bring justice to innocent victims
of crime.
Governor Hochul’s proposal would remedy the current rigid standard and would avoid
dismissals where undisclosed discovery information is not material or relevant to the
charges a defendant faces, or where the defense is not harmed by late or incomplete
disclosure. The absence of duplicative or irrelevant material would not trigger a
dismissal. Similarly, the late disclosure of relevant information would not lead to
dismissal in cases where the defense has an adequate opportunity to make use of that
material.
Most importantly, the Governor’s proposal would not change prosecutors’ obligations
to timely provide the defense with all relevant information. Failure to comply could
still trigger dismissal if the defense is harmed by the prosecutor’s error.
The Governor’s proposal would also set timeframes on when a defense attorney can
raise issues related to discovery, so that motion practice would occur soon enough for
discovery issues to be resolved before the speedy trial clock runs out. As suggested
above, the current law encourages defense attorneys to wait to raise discovery issues
until after the speedy trial clock has run out. That gamesmanship undermines not only
the original goal of the discovery law, but our criminal justice system in general.
Governor Hochul’s proposal is in no way a rollback of the current discovery law. The
21 categories of required discovery will not change. The amendments focus on what
is relevant to the charges a defendant is accused of, and on discovery issues that would
hurt a defendant’s ability to raise a defense. Cases all over the state will move faster
and fewer cases will be dismissed on “technicalities.” Most importantly, the law
remains intact to provide the remedy of dismissal in any case where a prosecutor does
not act in good faith.
Even with the proposed changes, New York will still have the most open and
transparent criminal discovery law in the country. New York State’s prosecutors
support early, open, and robust discovery exchange. We do not, however, support a
process that imposes such a burdensome duty on prosecutors that it requires the
dismissal of cases for every minor and unimportant discovery violation. That system
is not fair to victims and, frankly, not fair to New Yorkers.
 DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

As you craft and negotiate the upcoming budget, we urge you to support Governor
Hochul’s discovery proposal.
Sincerely,
Lee Kindlon Mary Pat Donnelly Ian M. Jones
Albany County Rensselaer County Allegany County
F. Paul Battisti Lori Rieman Brittany G. Antonacci
Broome County Cattaraugus County Cayuga County
Jason L. Schmidt Weeden A. Wetmore Michael D. Ferrarese
Chautauqua County Chemung County Chenango County
Andrew J. Wylie Chris Liberati-Conant Patrick A. Perfetti
Clinton County Columbia County Cortland County
Shawn Smith Anthony P. Parisi Michael J. Keane
Delaware County Dutchess County Erie County
Michael Langey Elizabeth M. Crawford Michael J. Poulin
Essex County Franklin County Fulton County
Kevin Finnell Joseph Stanzione Marsha King Purdue
Genesee County Greene County Hamilton County
Jeffrey S. Carpenter Krystina Mills Jeffrey G. Tompkins
Herkimer County Jefferson County Lewis County
Ashley Williams William G. Gabor Sandra Doorley
Livingston County Madison County Monroe County
Christina Pearson Anne T. Donnelly Brian D. Seaman
Montgomery County Nassau County Niagara County
Todd C. Carville William J. Fitzpatrick James B. Ritts
Oneida County Onondaga County Ontario County
David M. Hoovler Susan M. Howard Anthony DiMartino Jr.
Orange County Orleans County Oswego County
John M. Muehl Robert V. Tendy Thomas E. Walsh
Otsego County Putnam County Rockland County
Gary M. Pasqua Karen A. Heggen Robert M. Carney
St. Lawrence County Saratoga County Schenectady County
Susan J. Mallery Joseph G. Fazzary John J. Nabinger
Schoharie County Schuyler County Seneca County
Brooks Baker Brian Conaty Kirk Martin
Steuben County Sullivan County Tioga County
Matthew Van Houten Emmanuel C. Nneji Jason M. Carusone
Tompkins County Ulster County Warren County
J. Anthony Jordan Christine Callanan Susan Cacace
Washington County Wayne County Westchester County
Vincent A. Hemming Todd J. Casella
Wyoming County Yates County