What's happening
This bill adds that corrective remedies for certain criminal procedure violations are only granted if substantial rights are affected.
Why it matters
Raises the standard for granting corrective remedies. by requiring proof that a defendant’s “substantial rights” were actually harmed by a procedural violation, not just that a technical violation occurred—this could make it harder for defendants to win certain appeals or motions for relief.
Narrows judicial discretion and potential remedies. by specifying that courts can only grant remedies to the extent necessary to fix real prejudice, which may reduce the number of convictions overturned for minor or non-prejudicial errors.
May impact the fairness and consistency of criminal trials. defendants must now affirmatively show that an error had a meaningful effect on their rights, potentially affecting how aggressively defense attorneys pursue procedural claims and how courts evaluate them.
Could speed up court proceedings. by limiting corrective actions to only those cases where significant harm is proven, possibly reducing litigation over less consequential procedural issues.
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Headline styles
Limit Discovery Rule Remedies
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
2 Co-sponsors
2 Multi-sponsors
History
- Held for consideration in codes
- Referred to codes
- Referred to codes
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
5600
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 13, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. MANKTELOW -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. DeSTEFANO, McDONOUGH -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to corrective remedies
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The criminal procedure law is amended by adding a new section 240.46 to read as follows: § 240.46 Corrective remedies.
A violation of section 240.45 will entitle a party to a corrective remedy under subdivision one of section 240.70 only if the party's substantial rights are affected, and only to the extent required to cure the prejudice to those rights. A court shall not set aside a conviction, or reverse or modify a judgment, on account of a violation of section 240.45 unless the defendant demonstrates that his or her substantial rights are affected.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08943-01-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.