Worcester DA sounds alarm over new criminal discovery rules
Photo I Courtesy of Google Maps
Worcester District Court
District attorneys are scrambling to adjust to updated criminal rules for turning over information, with the heightened workload adding more pressure to an already-strained workforce, Worcester County DA Joseph Early Jr. told lawmakers.
At a Friday budget hearing in Clinton, Early recapped the initial impact of a Supreme Judicial Court order that took effect March 1 and approved overhauling Rule 14, which deals with pretrial discovery procedures. The changes, which the SJC described as "the first comprehensive revisions" to the rules since 2004, clarify the type of information that prosecutors must disclose to the defense.
"It was enacted due to failings within the discovery system," Early said. "The rule provides for putting all discovery in our cases into the defendant's hands by the first pretrial conference stage. As you know, we have many young lawyers within our offices, often overburdened."
In his office, lawyers are handling 250 to 300 cases, Early said. Those lawyers are now "panicking and upset and worrying," as they work late into the night or on weekends to keep up with the new rule, he said.
"Normally in a case, we might have 75, 85, 95% of that material for the defendant on the date of arraignment or the pretrial conference date, and then it would gradually be put to the defendant's hands," Early said, adding that the aim is of "nothing ever being omitted" in the case.
"But it's become an arduous task," he continued. "There are penalties if we don't comply with this, and one penalty is having a case dismissed with prejudice, where it can never be brought back."
DAs are also concerned about "ethical sanctions" for not following the rule, Early said. He paired his warning with a lesson from New York, which in 2020 implemented similar discovery reform rules.
"This has resulted down there in a crush of paperwork. The DAs down there tell us that it's had a horrible effect," Early said.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments