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Most Manhattan DA Candidates Promise A Mass Conviction Purge Once In Office
By
George Joseph
Published May 13, 2021
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By
George Joseph
Published May 13, 2021
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Last week, a coalition of exoneration organizations formally asked city prosecutors to purge hundreds of convictions based on the work of 22 NYPD officers convicted for lying, corruption, and other forms of misconduct. The advocates’ demand followed announcements from Brooklyn and Manhattan prosecutors that they were moving to dismiss nearly two hundred convictions tied to Joseph Franco, a single narcotics detective who was indicted for perjury in 2019.
Several of those 22 officers with criminal histories previously worked in Manhattan. But since the incumbent district attorney there, Cyrus Vance, is stepping down, the fate of those contested convictions will almost certainly be decided by one of the Democratic candidates running to replace him.
In response to a questionnaire about this issue from the exoneration coalition, most of the eight candidates—nearly all of whom claim to be “progressive”—agreed.
Six—Tahanie Aboushi, Alvin Bragg, Diana Florence, Lucy Lang, Eliza Orlins, and Dan Quart—signed on to a letter agreeing to the coalition’s demands, which included the dismissal of any convictions in which the flagged officers played an “essential role” and a full review of all previous cases involving officers whose credibility have been called into question by judges and prosecutors. The pledge also sought commitments from candidates that they will vacate convictions in the future “whenever an NYPD officer is convicted of crimes relating to their duties.”
“Under my administration, there will be no role for the testimony of police officers who have shown that their word can’t be trusted,” said Lang, a former Manhattan prosecutor, explaining her decision to sign the commitment letter.
Quart, a Manhattan State Assembly Member, echoed a similar sentiment in an email. “We cannot achieve safety for all Manhattanites without trust in the system and that includes holding officers who lie accountable, fully reviewing the cases they participated in and getting justice for people wrongfully convicted,” he said.
Two candidates did not sign the demand letter, which came from the Legal Aid Society, the Exoneration Project, and several other wrongful conviction organizations.
Liz Crotty, a former Manhattan prosecutor who has positioned herself as the moderate in the race, said that she would opt for in-depth convictions reviews of cases involving officers convicted for misconduct on duty, rather than “automatic” exonerations.
“The vast majority of police officers do a very difficult job very well,” Crotty said, noting that district attorneys need to work with law enforcement and demonstrate concern for crime victims, who have a right to expect that cases be prosecuted fairly and effectively. “Each case is unique, and it is the district attorney’s job to look at the facts and the law as it applies to each case,” she added.
Tali Farhadian Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor, also did not sign the pledge, but voiced support for many parts of it. In a statement, she would “proceed” with the “presumption” of dismissal for convictions in which officers who committed egregious acts played an essential role.
But in a separate response to the exoneration organizations, Farhadian Weinstein also suggested that as DA she would need to be realistic about issues of resource allocation.
“I am also mindful that the existing Conviction Integrity Unit in the office—which I intend to change and rebuild significantly—may have a backlog requiring a system for dedicating resources to the most compelling and urgent cases of innocence and wrongful conviction first,” she said.
Of the six candidates who agreed to all of the coalition’s demands, two also promised to revamp or build new units dedicated to address wrongful convictions.
“Public trust is not just an abstract concept, the health and safety of a community is inextricably tied to public trust in the systems and institutions charged with serving them and the perceived legitimacy of those institutions,” said Bragg, a former federal prosecutor. “On Day 1, we will create a new unit called ‘Free the Wrongly Convicted’ to look at cases like this and help build public trust."
“As DA, I wouldn't just focus on holding the police accountable but also the prosecutors who commit any crimes or misconduct,” said Aboushi, a civil rights attorney. “I would establish an independent Prosecutor Accountability Unit that would investigate prosecutors in our office to guard against misconduct and ethical violations.”
Voting in the Democratic primary for the DA’s race begins on June 12th.
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manhattan da
election 2021
conviction review unit
George Joseph
George covers Brooklyn for THE CITY with a focus on criminal justice and housing. He previously worked for WNYC and Gothamist, and has published stories with NPR, ProPublica, Esquire, and The Intercept among other outlets.
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