(Albany, NY) – In response to statements made by Albany County District Attorney Lee Kindlon, Citizen Action of New York’s Interim Co-Executive Directors, Carolyn Martinez-Class and Rebecca Garrard, had the following to say:
“We condemn Albany County DA Lee Kindlon’s decision to choose political expediency over the human and civil rights of Albany County residents. DA Kindlon’s statements that claim the reforms to discovery passed in 2019 have caused unwarranted dismissals in his office are not backed by local data and are patently false. Instead of supporting Albany County residents through the acknowledgment that evidence transparency and the right to a speedy trial is key to public safety, DA Kindlon has chosen to call for the rollback of these basic rights for his own political self-interest. This is no greater evidence of this than his own words that were quoted in the New York Times this morning: “There is a swing back toward pragmatism on how we approach the criminal justice problem. The politics have changed.”
“While DA Kindlon has chosen to use the political temperature as a barometer for his stances on whose rights he defends, we at Citizen Action of New York will continue to use the same barometer we’ve always used: truth, justice, and equity for all.”