It Could Happen To You (ITCHY), a grassroots criminal justice reform group, issued the following statement after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill that establishes a Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct. The bill, sponsored by Sen. John DeFransisco and Assemblyman Nick Perry, will hold prosecutors accountable for misconduct and for withholding evidence by creating a prosecutorial oversight commission.
This will be the first such commission in the US.
“Gov. Cuomo, we thank you for signing this bill. Thank you for standing by us,” said Bill Bastuk, founder and chairman of It Could Happen To You. “Your signature has brought to the crossroads the criminal justice reform community’s long battle to establish the New York State Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct. Establishing this independent, transparent body to hold prosecutors accountable when they break their own rules has now placed New York State at the epicenter of criminal justice reform in America… It Could Happen To You will be embarking on a commission campaign in other states across the country.”
Bastuk acknowledged DeFrancisco’s early strategic guidance to It Could Happen To You.
“Early in the process, the senator advised the group: ‘You can have all the criminal justice reform in the world, but unless there is some oversight and consequences when prosecutors ignore discovery rules and other obligations there can be no assurance any reform will succeed. Give me a white paper modeled after the State Commission on Judicial Conduct and I will work to get oversight into law,’” recalled Bastuk.
He also recognized Perry for helping pass this bill.
“The Assemblyman was fearless in leading the charge in the Assembly to stand up to the District Attorney’s Association who thought they could sweep accountability under the rug,” he said. “They were mistaken.
“Thank you to the diverse coalition of stakeholders that joined together – the wrongfully prosecuted and convicted, the Innocence Project (which launched the battle to undercover wrongful convictions years ago), New York State Association Criminal Defense Lawyers, New York State Defenders Association, Katal and Vocal New York. The commission is no longer a dream but reality,” concluded Bastuk.
Steve Downs, It Could Happen To You board member who served as the first counsel to the Commission on Judicial Conduct and worked tirelessly with the Senate and Assembly to craft the bill, stated: “Over 40 years ago the Commission on Judicial Conduct changed judicial culture by enforcing ethical standards, and everybody benefitted – including the judges. The Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct will have the same effect on prosecutors, changing their present win-at-all culture, to a culture of doing justice.” Jeffrey Deskovic, founder of the Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice, an It Could Happen To You Advisory Board member and an exoneree after spending 16 years in prison for rape and murder, was “instrumental in sharing the wrongfully accused narrative,” said Bastuk. “Jeff and the exonerees helped bring a face to years of injustice due to prosecutorial misconduct.”
“By signing this bill, Gov. Cuomo took a significant step – though hopefully not the only one at preventing wrongful convictions of New Yorkers, while also sending a strong message that prosecutorial misconduct is unacceptable in New York,” said Deskovic. “Honest prosecutors who go about their job lawfully while observing legal ethics have nothing to fear while rogue prosecutors now have to think twice.”
