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ChrisFromLongIsland t1_jb2dg7n wrote

So procecutors don't have a system to get the defentants attorney the docs within 6 months. My industry Iwork in has an absurd amount of government regulation that keeps changing and date after date to comply with and the industry changes with the changes. Speculilized Software is used and other techniques. Why can't supper smart attorneys figure it out?

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Brolic_Broccoli t1_jb2fhfd wrote

It's not just a "system", there is already an electronic discovery system in place that gets the documents and various other discovery, surveillance, lab reports, video metadata, intoxilyzer/PBT calibrations etc etc. 99/100 a prosecutor receives all of the paperwork that they need to actually be able to prosecute the case, that's not an issue.

There are numerous factors and variables at play that lead to absurdly high dismissal rates. First, prosecutors don't only acquire need to acquire all of the discovery material..There aren't enough prosecutors to review hundreds of hours of police body cam footage, police and paperwork and redact witness home addresses so they are protected. Just look at the Bronx DA walkout. You would need to hire about 5X the amount of prosecutors in each borough to be able to get through all of the paperwork and that's not feasible. The new executive budget bill barely allocates any more funds for discovery. This work can't be pawned off on paralegals either, because each prosecutor must do this themselves on each and every case. Second, what is "all paperwork/discovery relating to an arrest"? This opens the door to an infinite number of arguments. Do weather reports count? How about the names and contact information of 20+ unidentified passerbys who are impossible to get because of how populous NYC is? And these people aren't being called in to testify either. Regardless, because a random person may or may not have seen something, then it's a question of is it discoverable? If a Judge rules that it is, the case is automatically tossed, and this is after 20+ hours were already put into the case and thousands of files and all video files known to exist have been turned over. These are just some of the issues and it's a non-exhaustive list, the reforms create an endless rabbit hole which leads to an inordinate rate of dismissals.

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