Bragg: New discovery law removes judges’ handcuffs — so my prosecutors will try more cases

Come to Manhattan Criminal Court any day of the week and you’ll see prosecutors from my office arguing their cases, fighting for accountability for crimes that occur in this borough. 

You will also see them pushing giant metal carts, filled to the brim with stacks of thousands of papers and files.

This is discovery — materials relevant to the case, like witness statements and DNA test results.

It also includes a great deal of much less relevant material, like battery logs for police officers’ body-worn cameras and administrative records showing where in the courthouse a defendant was held. By law, prosecutors must disclose these materials to the defense at the very earliest stage of a case.

Ever since I became a prosecutor in 2003, I have been committed to robust and early discovery. But soon after I was elected Manhattan’s district attorney, it became abundantly clear to me that New York state’s 2019 discovery law — the recently revised statute dictating what materials are to be disclosed to the defense and when — had dire unintended consequences.

Case outcomes were being determined not by the evidence in a case, but by a prosecutor’s ability to produce reams of records having nothing to do with guilt or innocence.

The law was undermining accountability in the courtroom — and critically, undermining our city’s public safety, too. 

That contrasts directly with my mission, which is to keep everyone safe.

I’m honored to oversee an office of 1,600 employees and more than 600 prosecutors.  From homicides to assaults and rapes, crime victims are counting on us to bring them justice and peace of mind.

The people of Manhattan expect us to keep them safe and hold those who commit crimes accountable.

But accountability under the 2019 discovery law proved hard to come by. 

After the law went into effect, case dismissals in all five boroughs of the city began to skyrocket for reasons having nothing to do with the merits of the cases.

In 2023, 20,438 more cases were dismissed citywide than in 2019, pre-discovery reform — a 48% increase in the overall case-dismissal rate.

Over the last few years, survivors of domestic violence and other crimes have spoken out about how the 2019 discovery laws have directly impacted their lives.

We’ve heard in vivid detail how an unnecessary case dismissal can demoralize and discourage victims, often preventing them from reporting future incidents of abuse.

Business leaders who care about the city weighed in to advocate for changes to the law, as did prominent civil rights leaders like Al Sharpton.

A chorus of voices joined those of prosecutors and Gov. Kathy Hochul to say that when public safety is suffering, lawmakers must make common-sense changes. 

Those voices were heard. The changes aren’t everything we hoped, but they are meaningful.

In the end, as part of the state budget passed this month, legislators in Albany agreed to amend the 2019 law they were passionate about — but that proved to be problematic when implemented. We’re grateful to Speaker Carl Heastie and Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins for their partnership.

New York will still have the nation’s most open and transparent discovery law. The big metal carts aren’t going anywhere. 

Our obligations to seek relevant evidence and provide it to the defense remain the greatest in the nation. 

My office has always supported the intent of discovery reform. We want this law to succeed. 

To that end, we are hitting the ground running. We are setting up trainings for our prosecutors and revising legal documents so that our lawyers can now move cases forward while still ensuring that people accused of crimes can access the evidence in their cases. 

We are optimistic about the changes and are doing all we can to support them.

Under the revised law, cases can still be thrown out if a piece of discovery is turned over late.

However, judges won’t be obligated to dismiss a case in that instance. Instead, the bench will have discretion in that area, for the first time in five years.

If a discovery violation does not cause harm to the defense, the law no longer requires dismissal.

The power returns to judges to determine appropriate sanctions for unintentionally late or missing discovery.

I’m hopeful that the improvements to the discovery statute give us the tools we need to reverse the skyrocketing number of case dismissals we’ve seen in recent years. 

That is a big win for public safety, and for New York City.

Alvin Bragg is Manhattan district attorney.