Albany County District Attorney David Soares is calling on Governor Andrew Cuomo to shut down grand jury gatherings, as COVID-19 cases increase across the state.
Over the past month, Soares said five of his staff members tested positive for COVID-19.
“In our office we are taking every single precaution and even in spite of that we’ve been exposed,” Soares said. “And so to me it’s irresponsible and bordering on unethical to then ask citizens to leave their homes and come and provide their services.”
Grand juries meet in panels of at least 23 people to decide whether to bring forward criminal indictments in a case.
Governor Cuomo shut down these proceedings through an executive order in March. Soares says he is asking the governor to reinstate this order that would remove a defendant’s right to a speedy trial.
Lee Kindlon, a local attorney, says he agrees that grand juries should not be meeting in person right now, but says this approach is too broad since only a handful of cases need a grand jury.
Kindlon explained that speedy trials can also already be waived on a case by case basis.
“I’ve got clients who are sitting in jail, sitting in jail, and I can’t get them out, because of all this delay,” Kindlon said. “And it’s frustrating. I represent victims in crimes and their cases are not being resolved because of all this backlog and all this delay.”
Soares agreed that there is a backlog of cases, but says safety should be a priority.
“We have a huge backlog in Albany County. We have a huge backlog throughout the state because of the first timeout that we took with COVID,” Soares explained. “So I don’t know if there a fundamental difference between having 8,000 cases that you’re backlogged in or 10,000 cases but we need to do something right now so we’re not putting people in harm’s way.”
Kindlon pointed to this massive backlog of cases, however, and said that a defendant’s right to a fair trial could also be jeopardized if cases are continuously pushed back
“Memories fade, people move away, evidence gets degraded,” Kindlon said. “There are going to be problems when we all get back. If you want to work out a case, call me. You want to resolve something, give me a call. Don’t take all this extra time to do things at your own convenience.”
The governor’s last executive order suspending the part of the state's criminal procedure law that protects a defendants’ right to a speedy trial lasted from March to October.
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