FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARCH 14, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 33
letters & comments
oped
Real discovery reform
essential for justice
BY MELINDA KATZ
On March 2, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric
Gonzalez took another step forward in making our
city more just and equitable by strongly declaring his
support for reforming New York’s outdated discovery
laws.
Currently, prosecutors can deny defendants access
to important evidence being used against them until
immediately before their trials. Th is is not only unfair;
it stands completely at odds with what should be the
core mission of a district attorney’s offi ce.
I am proud to support DA Gonzalez’s call for openfi
le discovery for all New Yorkers, and this will also be
my practice as Queens District Attorney.
Opponents like the District Attorneys Association of
the State of New York (DAASNY) cite concerns for the
safety of witnesses that provide testimony to the prosecution.
While witness safety is always a top priority for
District Attorneys, it does not have to happen at the
expense of judicial fairness to defendants.
Th e Discovery for Justice Reform Act, now under
consideration in Albany, would preserve protections
and rights for witnesses. And while New York is embarrassingly
one among only four states (with Louisiana,
South Carolina, and Wyoming) with such restrictive
discovery procedures, somehow our country is not facing
an epidemic of discovery-enabled witness tampering
across the 46 other states.
Discovery reform has a higher chance of enactment
than ever before in New York. Th e Discovery for Justice
Reform Act, sponsored by Assemblymember Joe Lentol
and state Senator Jamaal Bailey, would allow New York
to modernize and refi ne its criminal justice procedures.
Th e bill’s backers include organizations like the
Innocence Project, Citizen Action, and public defenders,
who have joined together to form the Repeal the
Blindfold Coalition.
While we hope Albany takes the next vital step forward,
DA Gonzalez’s offi ce already voluntarily practices
open-fi le discovery for its cases, providing evidence
to defendants as it is received. Like District
Attorneys across the country, his offi ce has not seen
the kind of witness tampering or other negative eff ects
that DAASNY and other opponents claim would be the
inevitable result of these practices.
We need not fear fairness in the courtroom. Providing
immediate access to evidence means that both sides are
on a level playing fi eld, which is fundamental to our
system of justice.
Conversely, virtually blindfolding defendants against
critical information means that we are stacking the
deck against them before a trial even starts. Yet our
current laws allow prosecutors to predetermine outcomes
without letting our court system do its job, denying
wrongfully accused individuals the ability to participate
meaningfully in their own defense, while actual
criminals remain free to continue victimizing our communities.
Every DA’s core responsibility is to achieve justice for
their community, and that means justice on both sides
of the case – for both the victims and the accused. We
can achieve this, with fairness to everyone, by aggressively
prosecuting those who break our laws, while
rejecting unfair treatment and wrongful convictions of
defendants.
Open-fi le discovery’s success in Brooklyn has shown
us that it can and should be done in Queens and across
our state. Let’s end the practice of withholding evidence
from defendants, and let’s move our criminal justice
system into alignment with the rest of our nation.
Katz, who currently serves as Queens borough president,
is a candidate for district attorney.
BEWARE POTHEADS
ON THE ROADS
Governor Cuomo is promoting
two ideas that aren’t benefi cial for
most New Yorkers: the legalization
of recreational marijuana and congestion
pricing.
Both the American Automobile
Association (AAA) and the Daily
News recently reported that automobile
accidents increased in states
that legalized recreational marijuana.
A study by the Insurance
Institute for Highway Safety said
that traffi c accidents and insurance
claims increased 6 percent in those
states when compared to neighboring
states. Th e AAA and the New
York State Association of Police
Unions are opposed to legalization.
New York already has too many
drivers texting, ignoring stop signs
and going through traffi c lights. We
certainly don’t need potheads on the
road making matters even worse.
Cannabidiol (CBD) should be
allowed for medical reasons because
it doesn’t aff ect mood or behavior,
but there is no good reason to legalize
marijuana for recreational use.
Charging fees for cars entering
parts of Manhattan is economically
undemocratic; $11 per day is pocket
change for the wealthy, but it would
be a fi nancial burden for the poor,
meaning they would be excluded.
ABC News recently mentioned that
25 percent of people driving into
Manhattan are from out of state.
It’s a better idea to have congestion
pricing apply only to drivers who
don’t live or pay taxes in New York.
While these two proposals
may increase revenue, they won’t
increase our well-being or the common
good.
Linda Imhauser, Whitestone
UNEQUAL JUSTICE
UNDER THE LAW
Th ere are two tiers of justice in
America. One for the rich and one
for the poor.
Justice T.S. Ellis found Paul
Manafort guilty of tax fraud, hiding
foreign bank accounts and bank
fraud. According to sentencing
guidelines he should have received
19 to 24 years in jail. Ellis never
even considered Manafort’s other
admitted crimes, like illegal foreign
lobbying and money laundering.
Manafort got less than 4 years. Why
so lenient?
Ellis said Manafort lived “an otherwise
blameless life.” Manafort
worked for some of the world’s
most notorious despots – Zaire’s
Mobutu Sese Seko, the Philippines’
Ferdinand Marcos and Angolan
rebel Jonas Savimbi.
To anyone who thinks it was a
“just sentence,” here is just one
comparison: Crystal Mason was
sentenced to fi ve years in jail for tax
fraud (just like Manafort) and was
released in early 2016. She didn’t
know that she wasn’t allowed to
vote in that year’s presidential election
(whether felons can vote varies
state by state).
She cast a provisional ballot at
her local church aft er being told
that her name could not be found
on the rolls. Judge Ruben Gonzalez
sentenced her to another fi ve years
for voter fraud. Terri Lynn Rote
was also convicted of voter fraud in
Iowa for trying to vote for President
Trump twice. Ms. Rote was sentenced
to two years’ probation and
a $750 fi ne.
Crystal Mason is black. Terri
Lynn Rote is white. Trump carried
Iowa by the largest margin of any
Republican candidate since Ronald
Reagan in 1980.
Robert LaRosa, Whitestone
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