KINGSTON – Ulster County District Attorney Emmanuel Nneji had some alarming news to report to his legislative oversight committee on Wednesday – his office is “suffocating in work.”
He attributed that to the discovery laws in criminal cases that were enacted when the state adopted bail reform a few years ago.
“The condition is so dire that I have to take drastic actions to make sure that we can even just very little,” he said. “And it is with everyone across the state. The conditions in New York are dire, and I cannot sound that alarm enough.”
Under the discovery laws, each DA’s office must provide defendants with evidence about the case against them within days, and that is taxing all prosecutors’ offices.
Nneji said he is losing two more assistant DAs shortly, making things worse.
He pointed to Dutchess County DA Anthony Parisi who told his county legislature that he has 45 assistant DA and needs another more 93 ADAs just to keep up with discovery work plus nine new lawyers to deal with body camera reviews.
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