Cuomo Vetoes Bill for State Takeover of Indigent Criminal Defense Costs (New York Law Journal)
New York Law Journal, January 1, 2017
Cuomo Vetoes Bill for State Takeover of Indigent Criminal Defense Costs
“Gov. Andrew Cuomo vetoed a bill late Saturday that would have provided for an eventual state takeover of indigent criminal legal defense costs now paid by New York City and counties outside the city. The localities have come to shoulder most of the burden for the indigent representation in New York state since the Supreme Court’s decree in Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, that having access to an adequate defense against criminal charges is a constitutional guarantee….A diverse coalition of groups urged Cuomo to sign the measure, including the New York State Defenders Association, the New York State Bar Association, the New York City Bar Association, the state Conservative Party, the American Bar Association, the state Catholic Conference, the state Association of Counties, the NAACP, the Lambda Legal Defense Fund, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Innocence Project (NYLJ, Dec. 22).”
