Additional money for local prosecutors as well as state Attorney General Letitia James to implement changes to evidence discovery isn’t necessary, Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters on Wednesday.
District attorneys over the last several months have called for more funding in order to handle the expected increase in their offices’ workload to process evidence so it is made available on a faster basis to the defense — a key criminal justice law change approved earlier this year and is set to take effect in 2020.
But Cuomo questioned with the district attorneys, as well as the attorney general’s office, needs the money.
“They’ve gotten a lot more funding,” Cuomo said. “Everybody says they always want more funding. This year funding is going to be very difficult. We have a big Medicaid problem. The answer to everyone’s problem is always more funding.”
Cuomo’s office has previously pointed to the savings local county prosecutors should wring from the elimination of cash bail, which will lead to a decline in the number of people in county jails for certain offenses.
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