As many of you are aware, Governor Cuomo has nominated the sitting Nassau County District Attorney, Madeline Singas, for a seat on the Court of Appeals.  The State Senate must now decide whether to confirm or reject this nomination.  As many of you are also aware, NYSACDL is strongly opposed to the confirmation of D.A. Singas.  In that context, we are respectfully asking all of you to consider calling and/or emailing your Senator  to express your own opposition (click here to find your Senator), and to sign on to the letter at www.StopSingas.com.  The time to make these calls is now. The Judiciary Committee is meeting tomorrow at noon regarding her nomination.

By way of background, NYSACDL has a Judicial Screening Committee that carefully vetted all of the candidates nominated for each of two seats on the 7-member court.  The committee exhaustively researched each candidate’s history and thoroughly interviewed each candidate.  While the committee was disappointed by the fact that no criminal defense lawyers were among the nominees, NYSACDL nevertheless concluded that many of those nominees were well qualified to become members of the Court of Appeals.  But not D.A. Singas.

In our view, a Judge on the Court of Appeals should have the following qualities:

1. Impartiality;
2. Sensitivity to issues of racial and social justice;
3. A demonstrated history of legal scholarship;
4. Commitment to the rule of law; and,
5. A well-rounded legal background

We believe, Madeline Singas falls far short when measured against these criteria. We reached this conclusion for many reasons, including the following:

1. Ms. Singas is opposed to many of the criminal justice reforms that NYSACDL has championed and considers essential to criminal justice. When bail and discovery reform were under consideration, Ms. Singas was among the prosecutors who spearheaded the effort to defeat the proposed legislation. Singas stoked fears about the legislation, saying the reforms would hurt public safety. After the reforms passed, Singas described herself as “one of the most vocal opponents against many of these changes." Even more egregiously, once bail reform passed, a staff attorney in her office taught prosecutors around the state how to circumvent the reforms. https://www.cityandstateny.com/articles/politics/new-york-state/das-trained-how-to-keep-people-in-jail-despite-new-bail-law.html

    

2. Ms. Singas lacks the basic qualifications one would expect of a Judge on the highest court in our state judicial system. While there is no one single set of experiences that can prepare a person well for a position on the high court, Ms. Singas has no experience whatsoever that would qualify her. Other than as the titular head of her office, she has never been directly involved in the appellate system, as an advocate, judge, or even a judicial clerk. Worse still, she has done little or no original legal research or writing in her entire career.

    

3. Ms. Singas has demonstrated her bias against entire classes of attorneys when explaining her opposition to the prosecutorial conduct commission. In a Newsday opinion piece published on 8/16/18 she stated, “District attorneys have great power in our criminal justice system, and with that comes an obligation to adhere to the highest legal and ethical standards. We should be subject to vigorous, fair and independent oversight. But establishing a commission appointed in part by Albany politicians exclusively to police district attorneys in New York’s 62 counties while leaving the current flawed system in place for crooked Wall Street lawyers, client-scamming real estate attorneys and corruption-enabling government lawyers is a mistake.”

The Senate is set to vote on this nomination early next week. We understand that Senate leadership is hoping for a smooth confirmation. However, several Senators, including Salazar, Rivera, and Brisport, have already come out in opposition. We have heard that there are others who are still considering their position. Your voice can help.  And so, we strongly urge you to make your voice heard.  Please call or email your Senator in opposition today and sign on to the letter at www.StopSingas.com.

Thank you,

Alice L. Fontier                                           
President, NYSACDL                                

Alan S. Lewis
Chair, NYSACDL Judicial Screening Committee

Criminal Defense Attorney Survey Now Available!

We are pleased to announce that the criminal defense attorney survey for this project is now available! We need your help in eliminating the trial penalty in New York by participating. Here is link to the survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/nytrialpenalty

We urge you to think of your experiences, consider your clients’ decisions and take 15-25 minutes to take the survey and assist this effort.

Defense lawyers are uniquely situated to fully identify the reasons why people surrender their fundamental constitutional right to a trial with startling regularity, and why they also waive other valuable rights. The more broadly we can collect data and the stories that prove the impact of the trial penalty the greater our impact will be. Thank you!

“We, the undersigned, are former prosecutors who practice across the State and in the federal courts. We write to express our support for reform of New York State’s discovery laws.”

Are you a former prosecutor who can join them?

Read the letter and then add your name!

The bill to establish a Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct has been delivered to Governor Andrew Cuomo for action by August 20th. A group of organizations and individuals are working hard to see that he signs this bill into law. We need you to show the Governor that you support this bill becoming law. 

What You Can Do:

• Contact Governor Cuomo via Twitter or Email through these easy to use contact forms.

• Twitter
• Email

• Join exonerated persons and representatives from national and state organizations fighting for criminal justice reform and human rights at a rally on Monday, August 13th. See information below.

• Sign this petition started by Brooklyn Defender Services calling on Governor Cuomo to sign the bill.

• Petition Link