Legal Commentary

Manhattan DA Candidates and the Problem of Wrongful Convictions

By TChris

Three Democratic candidates are campaigning to replace Robert Morgenthau, who is retiring as Manhattan's district attorney upon completion of his current term.

Leslie Crocker Snyder, Richard Aborn and Cyrus Vance Jr. All are campaigning on preventing crime and providing alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders. But at a Crain’s breakfast forum in midtown, Messrs. Aborn and Vance contrasted their unwavering opposition to capital punishment to the change in Ms. Snyder’s view since she lost to Mr. Morgenthau in 2005.

Snyder ("a retired judge who once offered to personally administer a lethal injection to a convict") cites her investigation of the reasons for Jeffrey Deskovic's wrongful conviction as the cause of her change of heart about the death penalty. The more cynically minded might think that political calculation accounts for Snyder's conversion. Interestingly, Deskovic is among those who questions Snyder's explanation. [more ...]

"I'm pleased that my story inspired Judge Snyder to shift her position on the death penalty, but it's troubling that her revelation on such an important issue should come at such a politically expedient time," said Deskovic. "She has not taken any serious actions on the issue, whereas Aborn's record speaks loud and clear.

Of the three candidates, Aborn has been the strongest advocate of policy changes designed to curb wrongful convictions.

As District Attorney, Richard Aborn pledges to reduce the likelihood of such errors by creating a new office of professional responsibility to collect and investigate allegations of prosecutor misconduct, work to reduce false confessions by requiring videotaping of interrogations and by improving the use of forensic technology. Aborn will also implement policies and programs to financially compensate the exonerated and expunge criminal records related to wrongful convictions.

Deskovic supports Aborn's candidacy in light of his commitment to reforming the systemic causes of wrongful convictions.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on July 28, 2009 (boomark / email).