The Legal Aid Society is decrying an order issued by Brooklyn Supervising Judge Keisha Espinal that will be applicable in all criminal cases in that borough, as reported by Gothamist.

The new order undermines landmark reforms to New York’s discovery process that Legal Aid was instrumental in advocating for and that the New York State Legislature enacted in 2019.

Rather than directing their judicial efforts towards ensuring that both parties in criminal cases timely and fully comply with their obligations to exchange evidence under the statute, the courts are devising a way to get only the defense to waive its rights. The order even incentivizes prosecutors to withhold evidence until the last minute.

“We will monitor this mandate and will litigate should the consequence of this proposal harm our clients or place burdens on defense counsel that are contrary to the law,” said Dawn Ryan, Attorney-In-Charge of the Brooklyn Trial Office at the Legal Aid Society.

“This order subverts the spirit of discovery reform, which removed the blindfold that had long kept people in the dark concerning the evidence in their criminal cases,” said Yung-Mi Lee, Legal Director of Brooklyn Defender Services’ Criminal Defense Practice.