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St. Lawrence County district attorney making strides to dig out of hole left by former D.A.

Posted 10/12/19

CANTON -- St. Lawrence County’s district attorney says his office has made strides digging out from the controversy-filled administration of Mary Rain, but criminal justice reforms in 2020 will …

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St. Lawrence County district attorney making strides to dig out of hole left by former D.A.

Posted

CANTON -- St. Lawrence County’s district attorney says his office has made strides digging out from the controversy-filled administration of Mary Rain, but criminal justice reforms in 2020 will present new challenges to local prosecutors.

Gary Pasqua, who began serving after defeating Democrat James Monroe in November 2017, has cleared up backlogs and improved administration within the office.

He replaced Rain, who later was suspended from practicing law in New York state for two years. She aggressively and unsuccessfully prosecuted Oral “Nick” Hillary for murder and created havoc when she stopped sending assistant district attorneys (ADAs) to local courts after the county legislature voted against filling a vacancy in her office.

 

More cases to court

Pasqua, who served as an ADA in neighboring Franklin County before being elected to the top post in St. Lawrence County, said his office is bringing more cases to court than his predecessor.

He pointed to 254 indictments or pleas by superior court information in 2018. Superior court information means the defendant waives their right to have the case heard by a grand jury and pleads guilty.

"I know [in 2017] it was in the 150s. This year we're already over 200, so we'll probably approach 300,” Pasqua said.

He says he is still catching up on the backlog of local court cases that swelled under Rain. She had ceased sending ADAs to local courts in 2015, but resumed before the end of her term.

The current DA says that still left a mess when he took office in 2018.

"What we walked into were local courts that had a large backlog of cases because they weren't covered properly and you had a lot of unhappy judges in those courts. One of the first things we did was change that policy ... some every week, some every month, some every couple of months, but they're being covered,” Pasqua said.

"I think for the most part we're catching up ... it's going to take some time before it's taken care of."

He said part of Rain’s legacy was a number of cases her administration had closed, but didn’t report them closed. So when Pasqua took over, he said his office had to go through all of the open cases from Rain’s tenure.

"There are instances where cases that were closed weren't reported as closed ... the biggest difficulty is the influx of cases doesn't stop,” Pasqua said. “We have to try to find time when we can to go through the old files, see what we have open that's actually closed."

"I don't know if every case opened under her administration is closed at this point ... when it comes to felony cases, those have all been resolved now that we're in our second year,” he said.

 

DWI plea bargains return

Pasqua also rescinded Rain’s policy to not allow plea bargain for driving while intoxicated charges.

"We don't have a policy because I believe ... in evaluating every case differently. The 40-year-old who's never been arrested and ends up with a BAC of .12 one night, and the 40-year-old who has a prior one that is reduced to (driving while) ability impaired and blows a .10, those are two different cases. I don't really believe in mandates for my attorneys in terms of 'listen, you can't reduce this,'” he said.

"I want them to use their common sense and evaluate every case as an individual. What's appropriate? What's truly justice? My job isn't to get a conviction on every case. My job is to seek justice for the people of St. Lawrence County.”

Criminal Justice Reforms

Pasqua says his office is preparing for two big state-level criminal justice reforms.

As on Jan. 1, suspects charged with misdemeanors and most non-violent felony offenses will not be eligible for pre-trial detention. That means they’ll be released with appearance tickets and not arraigned until a later date.

“If we have an individual up here from New York City who's peddling cocaine or heroin and is arrested on a B felony, I can't ask the judge to put him in jail,” the DA said.

"I think there are going to be a lot of angry people calling my office why the person who committed a crime against them isn't in jail … I can't ask for bail."

Advocates of the bail reform say it is meant to level the playing field for poor defendants.

“Bail is meant to be a tool courts use to ensure that a person accused of a crime returns for trial. But each year, thousands of New Yorkers who have not been convicted of a crime remain behind bars– kept from work, family, and appointments – simply because they can’t afford to pay to get out,” the New York Civil Liberties Union said in a statement in March.

“For these New Yorkers, freedom depends on the size of their bank accounts. When they can’t pay, they either remain locked up until their trial – which can take months or even years – or they plea bargain, sometimes even pleading guilty to get out of jail sooner than they would if they awaited trial.”

Speed trial law change

Another big change is a change in speedy trial laws. Starting on Jan. 1, state prosecutors will have 15 days from the time of a suspect’s arrest to turn over all discovery materials to the defense.

"That includes, unlike before, basically every piece of paper produced by law enforcement. Officer's notes, lab reports, any communication, electronic communication, radio calls, 911 calls, and that's on every case. It's not possible to keep up with,” Pasqua said.

"What it's going to do is make it much harder to do our job and do it efficiently. I've asked for additional staff in the upcoming budget. I don't know if that's going to happen.

"It’s drastically going to change the way we do business."

The NYCLU says the automatic discovery is to give the defendant a sense of the case against them before deciding whether or not to take a plea deal.

“Almost all New York defendants plead guilty instead of going to trial, but as a rule, they are not entitled to see any evidence before accepting a plea. Under the current system, defendants are too often pressured into pleading guilty because they have no sense of the case against them – even defendants who are factually innocent,” the organization said in a statement on their website.

Pasqua said his office will start using an electronic case management system and go entirely paperless, which may help them stay better organized in response to the automatic discovery reform.

"One of the biggest things we're doing in conjunction with the new laws coming Jan. 1 is we're making use of our prosecutor's case management system. So we have moved to the point where we're going to be a paperless office. Hopefully that is going to allow us to try to keep pace as of Jan. 1 with the new discovery laws,” Pasqua said. "Any attorney at any time can pick up a computer and look at any file in the office.”

He said the New York Prosecutor's Training Institute provided his office with the case management system.