Gov. Hochul touts partial rollback of NYS criminal discovery law

ALBANY — Starting Thursday, a new law will change how criminal cases go forward in New York, easing requirements on prosecutors for sharing evidence with defense lawyers and how soon they must do so.

The law governs "discovery," a key element of case process, and partially rolls back a 2019 reform that benefited the defense side. Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday hailed the implementation of the rollback, which was one of her top policy priorities in 2025.

Hochul, flanked at a news conference by prosecutors and law enforcement, acknowledged "this was the one issue district attorneys gave us, were begging us to do" in the recently completed 2025 legislative session.

"Tomorrow, we will finally lift a burden on the justice system," the governor said.

District attorneys long had complained that a landmark 2019 discovery reform — which compelled them to more quickly share evidence with defense attorneys as a case progressed — was too burdensome and triggered too many case dismissals based on a defendant’s right to a speedy trial.

Case dismissals skyrocketed after the COVID-19 pandemic, but the majority weren’t attributed to speedy trial laws, according to data from the state Office of Court Administration.

For instance, just 15% of dismissals in 2024 were linked to speedy trial/discovery issues, state data shows.

Further, it’s much bigger issue in New York City than the rest of the state.

In 2024, 27% of all case dismissals in New York City were attributed to the speedy trial law, according to the Office of Court Administration data. In the rest of the state -- less than 2%.

The new rules contain some important changes.

When the defense makes a motion to dismiss a case based on discovery errors, a judge now will weigh whether prosecutors exercised due diligence to produce all the evidence, whether they acted in good faith and how significantly the harm of the error cripples a person’s defense. This means a judge could determine evidence-sharing errors weren’t significant enough to warrant a case dismissal.

And another important change: Defense attorneys must file challenges within 35 days of a prosecutor certifying they have turned over all the evidence. Hochul and prosecutors claimed too often defense attorneys waited till late in the process to file challenges in hopes of triggering speedy-trial dismissals, state data doesn’t document how often that happened.

"The new law will adjust the playing field," said Mary Pat Donnelly, Rensselaer County district attorney and head of the statewide district attorneys' association.

A coalition of defense attorneys that fought the rollback didn't comment immediately Wednesday.

Discovery is a key component of the criminal trial system. For years, defense attorneys had said prosecutors too often waited till the eve of a trial to turn over materials, handicapping a defendant’s ability to decide whether to agree to a plea bargain or go to trial. They called it "trial by ambush."

The 2019 law sought to change that. It put prosecutors on tighter deadlines to certify they have turned over all materials. If a defense attorney could show that’s not true, prosecutors must correct the error — and if the time it takes to do so means violating a person’s right to a speedy trial, a judge might dismiss the case or the prosecutor himself will drop the charges.

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy