Yesterday, Brooklyn Criminal Court arraignments we’re packed w/ people charged w/ misdemeanors & non-violent felonies, jammed like sardines (“standing room only” as one colleague described it) in cells, over dozen police officers, no hand sanitizer. When will this stop? More:
Colleague: “I met a person charged w/ misdemeanor trespass. Ended with an ACD & immediate sealing (read: dismissal). Seriously no point in having this client go through booking. Especially with Covid.”
Another colleague: “Were swamped. It is really really awful. I had to ask for them to clean up my clients vomit from the floor when the threw up on the record.”
Possibly because of screening, people were being held for well over a day, and on average over 30 hours between arrest and arraignment. In squalid conditions. In large groups. With no protection.
3 people were arrested by NYPD, held overnight, and then seen by judge in Brooklyn yesterday only on warrants for failing to appear to answer for *drinking in public.* And note: the only reason NYPD would likely know about warrants is if they unnecessarily stopped & frisked 1st.
According to colleagues working in Brooklyn arraignments yesterday (Saturday), many people were arrested & hauled into court, charged and seen by judge after NYPD executed search warrants on drug possession cases.
Another public defender colleague in Brooklyn criminal court: “We are all pretty exhausted and stressed from the shift. It was one of the worst ive seen in a while and the conditions are terrible.”
Dispatch from another public defender in Brooklyn yesterday: “23 DATs (tickets that could’ve been adjourned instead of forcing people in). A lot of driving on suspended licenses. Everyone (including the judge) was working as quickly as possible, and it still wasn't good enough.”
In Brooklyn, a teenager was hauled into court for banging on his moms door & breaking lock. Happened nearly a month ago. Living peacefully ever since. Mom & grandma didn’t want to press charges. Called police multiple times to say so. Police arrested anyway. Held for 30 hours.
In court, my defender colleague “spoke w/ grandma. Made it clear she'd spoken w/ police multiple times about her desire to not go forward with the case. Didn’t want protective order. Prosecutor refused to call her & requested protective order anyway.” Continued:
“The judge ‘second called’ the case (resulting in ANOTHER delay) & ordered prosecutor to call grandma. She confirmed she didn't want to go forward, that she wasn't threatened, & that she didn’t want protective order. Judge finally granted request over prosecutor's objections.”
“A teenager was held for over 36 hours for a case that will certainly be dismissed. At a time when there is a pandemic. All the more ludicrous since this incident occurred on Feb. 19 w/ absolutely no issues before or since then. I wanted to share what one client went through.”
HORROR: My colleague was in night court last night. Just emailed me a harrowing dispatch. She wanted me to share with you. I am so in awe of all those still fighting for justice in the midst of the pandemic. And worried. “Sorry for the length once I started writing it spiraled.”
“Last night was horrifying. I kept looking at the other defenders and just being like...its not just me right? This is wrong, this is off, this is so much more anxiety than I normally feel at this job.”
“The cells were packed. Wall to wall. As busy as I've ever seen them. There were multiple medical ‘walk throughs’ (people bright directly from the hospital) chained in corner. One man was lying on the floor the entire time yelling & moaning w/ his arm cuffed to a metal chair.”
“Each person from hospital were accompanied by arresting officers just milling about, causing more congestion. At least ten standing & sitting around. In particular the female cells were worse than ever. The cells & medical area covered w/ bits of old food & sandwich crusts.”
“There was a strong smell of urine and vomit and the floors and walls had clearly not been cleaned in months. The regular dirt and grime and roaches crawling on the walls were there, but with the congestion and the state of the world those things seemed even worse than usual.”
“In a world where I get 10 emails a day from every nail salon, store, or gym class I've ever been to telling me how they are deeply sanitizing, why the f*ck is the most cramped place in the city, government run, so absolutely disguting & unsanitary during a global pandemic???”
“It is such a reflection on the way our clients are being treated as garbage not worthy of these basic human standards at any time, but ESPECIALLY right now??”
“I met a woman in the medical area who was dope sick. I'm not super proud of this, but since she was ill in a digusting room covered w/ food waste & roaches I rushed our conversation. I told her I was trying to get her out as soon as possible and asked how she was feeling.”
“When she was brought out to wait to see the judge she started vomiting. Leaning over the side. NYPD looked at eachother. Did nothing. Finally one brought a bag. I didn't want them to take her to the hospital bc she expressed to me she just needed to get back to her shelter bed.”
“The Judge offered her a chair when brought up to her. Then stopped while she sat there & threw up for nearly 5 minutes. After she was finally done, Judge looked at me and asked me if I thought it should be cleaned. I said yes & she was not thrilled but said ‘okay that's okay.’”
“Someone came in & mopped once for about a second. They started to call next case but it required the interpreter & she wouldn't come up until they sanitized better. At her request someone used cleaner (bleach I think based on the smell). Mopped again. Then everything continued.”
“Now, this woman was sick from drugs not coronavirus that I am sure of. But we're living in a global pandemic that is transmitted thru bodily fluids. If Judge had not insisted at my request, THEY WOULD NOT HAVE CLEANED UP. Staff were visibly & audibly irritated by the request.”
“I met an adolescent. Allegation from January. NYPD had already decided not to arrest him previously. Still arrested. Saw a judge about 16 hours later. Has to come back to court Monday morning. Ordered to stay in school, exposing classmates to anything he encountered in court.”
“Even worse, the young boy’s elderly, disabled grandfather waited from 9am to 10:30pm in court for him. I can only imagine what that poor man has been exposed to because the warrant squad chose to arrest his grandson for this low level offense during a pandemic.”
“My final case of the night was an elderly in poor health. Could barely walk. His wife broke both of his wrists in a fight they had. She was charged & released last week. I can't fathom why they couldn't have given him a misdemeanor ticket or at the least a hospital arraignment.”
“I arraigned my last case at 1:08am. We did not stop working the entire night. There was no moment of pause. There were still multiple people in the system when we left & we had to give files back. My heart breaks for people that slept there last night.”
“I had to shower, wear clothes directly from the washing machine, and spray everything I came home with with Lysol. I've had bad shifts before but I've never felt like this after one. It was one of the most troubling experiences I've had in my years practicing.”
“Something needs to change or every attorney who works arraignments will be out with this illness very soon, and our clients will die in custody.”
I have to take a pause here& say that @BklynDefender, like other defender offices in the city, are doing extraordinary work to ensure the safety of their employees. Case coverage. Encouraging working from home for as many as possible. Only those at lowest risk in. Organized. But-
As my colleague pointed out, because NYPD is unwilling yet to stand down, because prosecutors are unwilling to to stop prosecuting, office of court admin unwilling to adjourn, it is putting defenders, and everyone forced to come in contact with the system, it danger.
Now from an another colleague who was in court last night just handling misdemeanors: “One young woman arrested for trespass in the lobby of an apartment building. Someone called police bc they didnt recognize her as a tenant.” Case resolved. Why did prosecutors charge this?
“Another woman came in on a discon sap warrant from 2018 that was immediately dismissed for insufficiency.” Translation: NYPD chose yesterday to arrest a woman for failing to answer a ticket for a non-criminal offense 2 years ago. Drag her into court. Potentially expose her.
NYPD arrested & prosecutors charged a man w/ “obstructing governmental administration” for making a phone call while police were searching him for marijuana. WHY? Why is NYPD still stopping & frisking? Looking for weed? Arresting for this? And why are prosecutors going along?
Another colleague who has been practicing for multiple decades & seen it all: “Last night's complete disarray, inhuman conditions, ‘care less attitude’ & ‘numbers crunching’ approach cannot be criticized enough.” Continued:
“Upon reflection I wonder if we should be putting a protest statement on the record at the start of every case we arraign, to let it be known that the conditions and procedure is deplorable. And it must be completely stopped if not overhauled immediately.”
“The most marginalized are the most victimized and traumatized.”
Just in from my colleague: A man was arrested & right now caged in cells awaiting Spanish interpreter for *open container of alcohol.* Another man, caged for moving between cars on a subway. Arrested 12:48am this morning. 24 hours in system. Dismissal. Why are they doing this?
