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BREAKING/thread: Nearly 4 years after ADA Glenn Kurtzrock was caught red-handed hiding 48 items of evidence in a murder trial and was fired for misconduct, the NY Courts finally "discipline" him. . . . with a mere two year suspension of his law license. http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/ad2/Handdowns/2020/Decisions/D65317.pdf
The defender community and we at @innocence have been ringing the alarm about this case for years as an example of the "justice delayed/justice denied" broken system of accountability for prosecutors who commit flagrant misconduct. Today's decision could not be more on point.
Among the most jaw-dropping aspects: the Court finds substantial "mitigation" in Kurtzrock's allegedly spotless record as a prosecutor before the May 2017 murder trial at issue. See p.22: "[T]here was no showing that he engaged in any similar conduct in any other cases...."
This is wrong - and hardly a secret. As was widely reported by @Newsday and others, in Feb 2018, another innocent man Kurtzrock prosecuted, Shawn Lawrence, was freed and exonerated based on Kurtzrock's misconduct at his 2015 trial. https://www.newsday.com/long-island/crime/murder-indictment-dismissed-kurtzrock-1.15534445
In 2015, the judge sentencing Mr. Lawrence said he should be "locked in a cage for life." In 2018, the judge who set Mr. Lawrence free after six years in prison called out Kurtzrock's "absolutely stunning" misconduct. https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=5280
How could the disciplinary court get this so wrong today -- both on Kurtzrock's well-known history, and the insulting, slap-on-the-wrist sanction? One reason (among many) is that in NY, all disciplinary proceedings against prosecutors are conducted entirely behind closed doors.
Along with six major media companies, in 2018, we sued to open up the proceedings in Kurtzrock's case and force some measure of greater transparency - but lost. https://innocenceproject.org/six-media-companies-join-innocence-project-lawsuit-seeking-records-in-case-of-former-suffolk-county-prosecutors-misconduct/
Today's decision shows yet again why NY needs (1) an independent and Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct and (2) an end to absolute immunity for prosecutors from lawsuits when they engage in such egregious violations of citizens' civil rights.
New York actually enacted the first such Commission in the nation in 2018 -- but it's been bogged down in court challenges ever since, and may never commence work absent a legislative fix: https://innocenceproject.org/innocence-project-applauds-gov-cuomo-for-approving-landmark-legislation-to-combat-prosecutorial-misconduct/
One thing is clear from today's quiet drop of this outrageous "disciplinary" decision by the Appellate Division. We have a long way to go before accountability for prosecutorial misconduct -- even in the most egregious and undisputed cases -- is a reality.
