Authored by: Dan M. Clark, New York Law Journal

A coalition of criminal defense lawyer groups have called for the New York Legislature to approve a series of reform measures, including marijuana legalization and a bid to prevent immigrant arrests at state courthouses.

The attorneys delivered that message in a letter Monday as the Democratic majority began to gather in Albany to plot strategy for the 2020 session, which is set to open in January.

The New York City-based groups aimed to provide a boost for their agenda—more than a dozen bills that have so far failed to secure majority support in both chambers—in the letter addressed to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislators.

Top among them was a measure, rejected this year by Democrats in Albany, to legalize marijuana in New York for adult, recreational use and tax sales of the drug. Lawmakers, this year, couldn’t agree on a final version of the bill before session ended in June.

While the legislation is likely to undergo amendments in the coming months as Democrats mull another effort to legalize marijuana, the coalition put its weight behind the bill as written.

“This legislation ends broad-based marijuana prohibition and begins to meaningfully repair its harm, including by automatically expunging criminal records and directing investments to the  communities most impacted by the War on Drugs,” the letter said.

The letter was signed by attorneys from the Legal Aid Society, Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, New York County Defender Services, and Neighborhood Defender Services of Harlem.

Those same groups were actively involved in efforts, last year, to overhaul the state’s laws on cash bail, criminal discovery, and the right to a speedy trial. Those efforts were relatively successful, with lawmakers approving legislation on each item.

Those new laws take effect at the beginning of next year and will eliminate cash bail for most low-level and nonviolent charges, meaning defendants will remain out of jail while they await trial. Defendants will also have earlier access to the evidence against them.

Those changes were approved by Democrats in the Legislature, who secured a majority in both the state Assembly and Senate this year for the first time in nearly a decade.

The coalition of defender groups is now calling on Democrats to use their majority control to pass a series of other measures aimed at enhancing the rights of defendants and immigrants. They framed the list as a natural progression of last year’s reforms.

“With the 2020 session only weeks away, we respectfully ask New York state to continue this progress and prioritize and pass critical and urgent reforms to other aspects of the system, including policing, due process, prison and jail conditions, and parole,” the letter said.

Among those reforms, aside from marijuana, was the Protect Our Courts Act, a bill that would require officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to first secure a federal judicial warrant before arresting an immigrant either inside, or around, a state courthouse in New York. 

State court officials in New York, earlier this year, handed down a directive that required ICE officers to have such a warrant to make an arrest inside a state courthouse, but that rule didn’t apply to areas immediately outside the building.

The Protect Our Courts Act would seek to prohibit those officers from making such an arrest when someone’s either on their way to a courthouse, or leaving the building. 

“We are grateful for this decisive action. Immigrant New Yorkers, however, are still vulnerable to being abducted by ICE on their way into or out of courthouses,” the letter said.

The coalition also said it would back legislation to remove a section of state law that, in most cases, prevents defendants charged with a class B misdemeanor in New York City from requesting a trial by jury. The same rule doesn’t apply outside New York City. 

The legislation was the result of a decision last year from the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, which found immigrants in New York City charged with that level of crime could request a jury trial, regardless of state law, if a conviction may result in their deportation. 

“This legislation would clarify that anyone charged with a misdemeanor in New York City is entitled to a trial in front of a jury of their peers, just as they would be if they were charged in any other part of New York state,” the letter said.

The defender groups also expressed support for legislation that would benefit individuals who’ve already been convicted of a crime. 

Among those bills was the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, or HALT. The legislation would cap solitary confinement in New York at 15 days and place severe restrictions on when the practice could be used.

The HALT Act failed to pass this year after Gov. Andrew Cuomo claimed it would cost too much to implement. Democrats in the Legislature allowed the bill to fail in exchange for a new set of state regulations on solitary confinement. That didn’t go far enough, the letter said. 

“Regulations proposed by Gov. Cuomo in August fail to meaningfully restrict solitary confinement and we believe enactment of HALT is still needed,” the letter said.

The letter also included support for bills, among several others, that would allow individuals convicted of a felony to serve on a jury, allow incarcerated individuals to vote, and eliminate the ability of minor technical violations to send a parolee back to prison.

With next year being an election year for members of the state Legislature, it’s unclear if Democrats who sponsor those bills will be able to gain support from lawmakers whose districts may present a challenge on election day, particularly on Long Island. 

Next year’s legislative session is scheduled to begin in early January and run through the end of May.