Exclusive | NYC Councilman Keith Powers pushes bill that would fix discovery law loophole after state evidence sharing changes fall short

A city councilman wants to close a discovery law loophole that’s sparking unnecessary criminal case dismissals — with a tweak Albany lawmakers left on the cutting room floor during budget season.Councilman Keith Powers is pushing legislation that would create a centralized database of NYPD evidence accessible by prosecutors and defense attorneys, which could help officials comply with burdensome evidence-sharing requirements under the state’s 2019 criminal justice reforms.Powers, who is also running for Manhattan borough president, said the new law would complement tweaks to the state discovery laws in Gov.

Kathy Hochul’s latest budget that finally passed late Thursday in response to massive, bipartisan backlash to the reforms.“We think it’s a good, easy piece of the puzzle and a critical piece that Albany is leaving out of the budget deal,” Powers (D-Manhattan) told The Post.New York state’s current discovery laws have been blasted because of aggressive deadlines for evidence sharing in criminal cases that critics say lead to cases to be dismissed and criminals cut loose without facing justice because of technicalities.Hochul unveiled her stunning $254 billion budget deal with a few tweaks in the discovery law language — with state lawmakers touting the deal as addressing the high number of dismissals.Powers, though, wants to mitigate NYPD’s onerous evidence requirements by giving the city’s prosecutors and defense attorneys direct access to a centralized electronic evidence system.In New York City, prosecutors rely on NYPD staff to compile the evidence, making it even more difficult for prosecutors to meet the aggressive discovery deadlines.Powers’ bill charges the police commissioner with giving prosecutors credentials to access NYPD’s electronic evidence records – but the attorneys would only be able to view, download or print the records.“This bill is a common-sense procedural reform that speeds up processes, allowing district att...