Governor Hochul and state officials release new reports highlighting urgent need for changes to discovery laws to protect crime victims

ALBANY, NY- Governor Kathy Hochul and her proposed changes to New York’s Discovery Laws have been highlighted by a package of three new reports that reflect input from over 1,400 people statewide, including crime victims, their family members, community members and more.

Governor Hochul has proposed what she calls “essential” changes to New York State’s Discovery Law to ensure procedural fairness, shorten case processing times, reduce the length of pretrial incarceration and safeguard sensitive and personal information belonging to witnesses.

“These new reports make it even clearer: we need commonsense changes to New York’s discovery laws to protect the rights of crime victims, hold attackers accountable and make our state safer,” Governor Hochul said. 

“Throwing out entire criminal cases over minor paperwork issues prevents justice from being served — and when abusers can weaponize the court system, the consequences can be tragic. That’s why I’ll refuse any state budget deal that doesn’t fix this fatal flaw in our laws.”

Since New York State’s 2019 discovery reforms were passed, the Governor’s office says that dismissals in cases involving domestic violence rose 26 percent in New York City.

In 2023, about 94 percent of cases were dismissed in New York City and nearly 50 percent were dismissed outside of New York City.

In many cases, automatic dismissal of cases has put survivors of domestic violence and other crimes at greater risk, according to the Governor’s office

Without changing any of these essential features of the 2019 reforms, the Governor’s proposal to streamline discovery laws will prevent cases from being dismissed based on issues that do not cause any harm to the defense — a situation that is particularly high-stakes for survivors of domestic violence, as detailed in the OPDV reports.

For example:

1. A domestic violence case was dismissed after the prosecutor did not turn over a handwritten command log, which is where the officer writes their name, the defendant’s name and the arrest information. This information is duplicated in numerous other police paperwork that was disclosed on time. Discovery was deemed incomplete, and the case was dismissed.
2. A domestic violence case in which the defendant was charged with third-degree assault for punching the victim in the face and causing visible injuries was dismissed because the prosecution had not turned over body-worn camera footage from an unsuccessful attempted home visit to the victim’s home. Discovery was deemed incomplete, and the case was dismissed.
3. A domestic violence and child endangerment case in which the defendant was charged with third-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child for punching the victim in the face, kicking her, and spitting on her in the presence of their children was dismissed because the prosecutor did not turn over an autogenerated document that contained irrelevant, duplicative information that the prosecution in good faith believed was not discoverable.
4. A domestic violence case in which the defendant was charged with third-degree assault for pushing the victim to the ground and dragging her was dismissed when it was found that one of the body-worn camera footage videos had not uploaded properly. The prosecution had listed it in the inventory of discovery and attempted to upload it and was unaware it had not uploaded properly. Discovery was deemed incomplete, and the case was dismissed.
5. A case in which the defendant was charged for assaulting his relative's former romantic partner by knocking her unconscious and breaking her jaw, requiring surgery and anesthesia, all while she was pregnant, was dismissed and the related order of protection was vacated because body worn camera footage from a wellness check on the victim was disclosed late.

Image via the office of New York Governor Kathy Hochul.