Centralized arraignment has issues ADA says
Nov. 3—The Otsego County Centralized Arraignment Parts has problems, First Assistant District Attorney Christopher Di Donna said during a report to the board of representatives on Wednesday, Nov. 2.
"Some issues have arisen," Di Donna said.
He said centralized arraignment came about after the Hurrell-Harring Settlement, and a state mandate that defendants must have access to counsel in their first court appearance.
Daniel Wilber, R-Burlington, Edmeston, Exeter, Plainfield, said as a former town justice anyone who was at an arraignment without legal representation, meant an automatic plea of not guilty. He said he did have to take into account whether he thought the person was going to be a flight risk or not before he issued any bail.
"I never saw a problem in this county," he said. "This law came about because an inmate in Rikers Island spent one year in jail with no representation. I thought our system worked."
He said the law is supposed to ensure indigent defendants aren't sent to jail without legal representation. A town justice and public defenders are on call twice a month to hear arraignments at the sheriff's office in Cooperstown at 8 a.m. or 8 p.m. every day, he said. The town justice is paid $125 each day they work plus mileage, he said.
However, the rigid timeline for arraignments, has caused problems with the State Police in Oneonta and Richfield Springs, he said. "The State Police barracks do not have holding cells," he said. "The Sheriff's Department and Oneonta City Police do."
That means if a defendant misses the 8 a.m. arraignment, they have to wait until the 8 p.m. arraignment handcuffed to a bench or chair in the barracks and watched by two troopers, who could be on the road instead, he said.
He said the bail reform that was enacted in 2020 limits the number of crimes a person could be held on bail with. However, if a person is charged with second-degree harassment, which is a violation offence, but the complainant wants an order of protection issued, the person arrested is going to have to wait in custody until a judge can issue the order of protection, he said.
During the old system, a town justice could issue the order of protection and the defendant would be released, he said. "Instead the person could be held 12 to 13 hours at the State Police barracks tethered to a bench for a violation. It defeats what the CAP system is supposed to do."
Di Donna said the CAP does not supply judges with their own court clerks or secretaries so they have to file their own paperwork. In the felony cases where the DA has 120 hours from the time of arraignment to do a felony hearing, that is sometimes problematic.
"Last month there was a felony arrest and the judge did not send the paperwork to the office for us to review," he said. "We got word at the last minute there was a hearing that night."
Di Donna said one solution to the problems encountered would be to lobby Albany to establish a district court like Nassau and Suffolk counties did. There could be a court placed in Oneonta and Cooperstown, he said. It would include legally-trained judges.
It would take up to seven years to implement, he said and if approved would abolish the local town courts.
Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221.
