New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill days before Christmas that would have made it easier for people who have pleaded guilty to crimes to challenge their convictions, a measure that was favored by criminal justice reformers but fiercely opposed by prosecutors.
The Democrat said the bill’s “sweeping expansion of eligibility for post-conviction relief” would “up-end the judicial system and create an unjustifiable risk of flooding the courts with frivolous claims,” in a veto letter released Saturday.
Under existing state law, criminal defendants who plead guilty are usually barred from trying to get their cases reopened based on a new claim of innocence, except in certain circumstances involving new DNA evidence.
The bill passed by the Legislature in June would have expanded the types of evidence that could be considered proof of innocence, including video footage or evidence of someone else confessing to a crime. Arguments that a person was coerced into a false guilty plea would have also been considered.
The Democrat said the bill’s “sweeping expansion of eligibility for post-conviction relief” would “up-end the judicial system and create an unjustifiable risk of flooding the courts with frivolous claims,” in a veto letter released Saturday.
Hello? The judicial system is broken. It needs to be upended.
The bill passed by the Legislature in June would have expanded the types of evidence that could be considered proof of innocence, including video footage or evidence of someone else confessing to a crime. Arguments that a person was coerced into a false guilty plea would have also been considered.
Also, how could a claim that requires new evidence that a person was wrongly convicted ever, in any way, be considered frivolous?! What the hell is this idiot thinking?
The system is working exactly as designed. This almost accidentally made it a little fairer to prisoners.
I wouldn’t doubt it if 99% took a plea because they were threatened with a super harsh sentence as an alternative. If everyone stopped pleading you would have the same backlog “upending” the court system. Think that’s the case in Oregon, no deals so everyone wants to goto trial.
New York, and police in the US in general, have a long history of coercing confessions out of people. There are many reasons why people might confess to a crime they didn’t commit, and threats of overly harsh sentences are one of them. Roughly 1 in 6 convictions that are overturned in the US involve a false confession. Anytime there is evidence that someone was coerced to confess, there should be a thorough review. Her calling such filings frivolous offends me to the core.
Trials are how it’s supposed to work. I’d argue the plea bargain system de facto violates the right to a fair trial since the vast majority of prisoners never got one
Prosecutors and advocates for crime victims warned the bill would have opened the floodgates to endless, frivolous legal appeals by the guilty.
Oh, god, no, the horror! Imagine, all the paperwork of people seeking justice. Perhaps some of them are not actually innocent?! What a ridiculous waste of time, allowing people who may not be actually innocent appeal convictions, just because it will allow wrongfully convicted people to go free.
Only insurrectionist white people get endless appeals silly! People of color go fill the for-profit prisons, it’s the circle of life!
I think ny only has public prisons
Looked a little deeper and NY only has public prisons, but there are private “detention centers” whatever that horror is.
She is such a piece of shit. Everytime I hear about her she’s screwing over the little guy. She’s supposed to be a Dem.
The open obvious secret is that the Dem’s don’t fight for the little guy, either. They just kick down less and sometimes throw a bone, and dumb people think that magically makes them good.
Being better than a shitstain is good, but there’s a looooong way to go from there to actually good.
She was more conservative than cuomo, who is about as conservative as you can get from an economic standpoint.
Ever since the r2r (right to repair) bill got gimped by her, I don’t trust her to do anything good
She’s been vetoing a lot of good stuff lately.
What is R2R?
Right to Repair
What a piece of shit. I hope the legislature can overturn the veto, but I can’t imagine any/many Republicans voted in favor of this.
Katie, what u doin’!
As a kbin user, I have not figured out how to link to Lemmy communities. [email protected]
In some places people will give a falsified statement for a cigarette and a Twix. Cops know this, too. Just to give a little context as to why this is actually a potentially good thing
