Squadron Applauds Assembly Including ‘Kalief’s Law’ to Fix NY’s Speedy Trial Law in Budget
March 15, 2017
ALBANY – State Senator Daniel Squadron released the following statement on the Assembly’s inclusion of ‘Kalief's Law’ (S.1998A-Squadron/Aubry), to fix New York's broken speedy trial law in their one-house budget:
"The right to a speedy trial is guaranteed by the Constitution, but far too often the state fails to meet that obligation. That's unacceptable. We can fix it with Kalief’s Law, which passed the Assembly unanimously and is included in its one-house budget proposal.
"Kalief Browder, for whom 'Kalief's Law' is named, was a young man broken by a system that failed him for years. The system's failures against Kalief have become a national beacon of the glaring need for criminal justice reform. However, in New York, the speedy trial process that failed Kalief is unchanged. How many others like Kalief are waiting in a state of trial purgatory, while Albany fails to act?
"The Assembly has yet again recognized the urgency of fixing our state's broken speedy trial law. The Governor included speedy trial reform in his State of the State, and the Senate Democratic Conference supports reform in the budget. Yet again, the Senate Majority remains silent and stands in the way of basic rights for New Yorkers. I urge the Senate Majority to include speedy trial reform in the final budget."
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Kalief’s Law would fix the state’s broken 1972 “ready rule,” which allows trials to be delayed indefinitely by tying mandated speedy trial deadline