Survivor groups split over Hochul’s proposed changes to discovery laws

Groups representing survivors of sexual and domestic violence are split over Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to change New York’s discovery laws. Last week, a variety of organizations advocating for survivors of sexual and domestic violence encouraged lawmakers to support the governor’s proposal to roll back parts of the reforms made in 2019, but now a different set of groups advocating for survivors has written to legislative leaders demanding they keep the law as it is.

Hochul has made her pitch to change the state’s discovery laws one of her top priorities for the budget, which is due April 1. Supporters of the tweaks, including district attorney’s offices, argue that the changes are minor but necessary to ensure that cases don’t get tossed on technicalities related to missing evidence. Most backers espouse support for the intent of the original reforms, which were enacted in a bid to make the rules dictating the sharing of evidence by prosecutors more fair to defendants, but say that the reforms have had unintended consequences that require remedy. Over a dozen groups advocating for women and survivors of sexual and domestic violence sent a letter to legislative leaders earlier this month taking that position.

But opponents charge that the proposed changes amount to a wholesale reversal of the 2019 reforms and would enable prosecutors to return to the “bad old days” of withholding evidence until the eve of a trial. Last week, a different collection of groups advocating for survivors sent a letter to state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, offering counterpoints to those made by the other organizations. 

“We reject any attempt to homogenize the experience and viewpoint of survivors,” the letter reads. “And we likewise reject the attempt to use our diverse experience as a bludgeon to decrease fairness in a criminal legal system that has a continued disparate impact on communities of color and communities who have been intentionally left behind through lack of investments and infrastructure.”

Several of the nearly two dozen groups that signed onto the more recent letter represent incarcerated or formerly incarcerated women, who have become victims of sexual violence in jail or prison. They include the Women’s Prison Association, Survivors Justice Project, Ladies of Hope Ministries and Incarcerated Nation Network. The letter cites data from the ACLU that many female prisoners experience sexual violence and “well documented” cases of abuse in correctional facilities. “We ask that the legislature (be) very wary whenever the experience of survivors is used to support attempts to attack foundational civil rights that help guard against wrongful convictions,” the letter reads.

Both the state Senate and Assembly rejected the governor’s proposal in their one-house budget rebuttals earlier this month, but the leaders have long indicated their openness to discussing potential changes to the discovery laws. Heastie told reporters last week that his members had concerns over specific language in Hochul’s budget proposal, which would only require prosecutors to turn over evidence to the defense that is “relevant” to the case – a narrower standard than the current law, which requires all evidence to be turned over that is “related” to the case. Heastie suggested that he and other state leaders have reached some sort of conceptual agreement, but offered no details on what the compromise looks like.