Tagged: New York State

NYS Prosecutors to Meet Their Brady Obligations

NYS judges will now be required to issue an order to Prosecutors to meet their Brady obligations. At the very least, courts will be alerted that they have a role in ensuring timely disclosure. Presumably, a prosecutor who fails to comply can now be held in contempt.

Read the full article: Susan DeSantis, Judges Ordered to Direct Prosecutors to Turn Over Information Favorable to DefenseNew York Law Journal (Nov. 7, 2017).

Professor Michael Mushlin Joins NPR Report on Prison Guard Brutality in NYS

NPR North Carolina ran a story about prison oversight featuring Prof. Michael B. Mushlin of Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University who has been tirelessly advocating for meaningful prison oversight. The level and extent of brutality occurring behind the walls of many prisons is unimaginable, and the fact that many if not all of the incidents go unreported, un-investigated, and unpunished makes these situations even more dire.

Related Readings:

Upstate NY Murder Prosecution Ends in Acquittal: A Look at the District Attorney

In a Huffington Post blog titled A Most Dangerous Prosecutor: A Sequel, Professor Bennett L. Gershman, of the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, describes what may be a unique record of prosecutorial misconduct that has yet to bring a disciplinary response.

Will NYS Establish the Independent Office of Correctional Ombudsman?

The New York State Assembly will soon vote on Assembly Bill No. 9939, which would establish independent oversight of NY’s prisons.  Prof. Michael B. Mushlin drafted a letter in support of the Bill, which he sent to the Speaker Heastie on June 7, 2016.

The purpose of the 2015 Assembly Bill No. 9939 is summarized as follows:

[This Bill] creates the office of the correctional ombudsman to achieve transparency, fairness, impartiality, and accountability in New York state correctional facilities; relates to reports by coroners; designates investigators of the office of the correctional ombudsman as peace officers; authorizes the attorney general to investigate the alleged commission of any criminal offense committed by an employee of the department of corrections and community supervision in connection with his or her official duties; relates to the confidentiality of certain records; and includes the office of the correctional ombudsman records within the definition of public safety agency records; makes related provisions.

Prof. Mushlin concludes his letter with a quote from the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy from his 2003 speech to the American Bar Association:

It is no defense if our current prison syste is more the product of neglect than of purpose. Out of sight, out of mind is an unacceptable excuse for a prison system that incarcerates over two million human beings in the United States.

Related Readings:

Death of a Prisoner at Clinton Correctional Facility

A recent investigation by The New York Times into the death of a prisoner, Leonard Strickland, at Clinton Correctional Facility reveals a savage beating by correction officers, horrifying indifference to the prisoner’s condition by medical personnel, lying by the corrections officers involved, and a total absence of any sanctions or systemic response. The biggest shock comes from the claim that a handcuffed and viciously beaten prisoner was a continuing threat or presented a potential for escape that justified the physical abuse and indifference that led to his death. Could a group of correction officers actually be “afraid” of a handcuffed and unresponsive inmate or “fear” that such a prisoner would try to escape? One can only ask if this is the same “fear” that is used to justify recent police shootings of unarmed and sometimes fleeing individuals.

Read the full article An Inmate Dies, and No One Is Punished by Michael Winerip & Michael . 

Warning:  this link contains a disturbing, and potentially upsetting, videotape.