NEW YORK – New York’s Conviction Integrity Units (CIU) have been found to be inefficient and even to perpetuate injustices, leaving exonerees to rely on the court for relief, according to a recent investigation by New York FOCUS.
The New York CIU was established to review wrongful convictions “as a way to ‘help with a fair and just criminal justice system,’” reports the New York FOCUS.
However, New York FOCUS has found that these programs “have fallen short of their promise,” revealing “the 12 CIUs outside of New York City — which have been around for an average of six years each and collectively boast three dozen staff members — have only supported 12 exonerations between them.”
In this investigation, New York FOCUS was not able to learn much about the internal system of the New York CIUs because they operate “almost entirely in secret, with no outside oversight,” allowing for possible cover-ups and internal pressure to affect cases “to the detriment of the wrongfully convicted.”
Through interviews and case studies, it was also found the CIU process to be slow and uncommunicative, where applicants were rejected without review or explanation, reported the New York FOCUS.
When analyzing the efficacy of the CIU, New York FOCUS found those wrongfully convicted “spent more time fighting their wrongful convictions than if they had gone to a judge in the first place.”
New York FOCUS highlights the case of Calvin Bauri, a former drug dealer from the Bronx, who was wrongfully convicted of a 1992 double murder based on testimony from other drug dealers.
After years of fighting for exoneration to no avail, the Bronx CIU reinvestigated Bauri’s case, but allegedly intimidated witnesses who were willing to support Bauri’s innocence, writes the New York FOCUS.
The FOCUS explained one witness was forced to leave a domestic violence shelter and pay out of pocket for a hotel room after investigators’ unannounced visit. Both witnesses reported to have “felt intimidated by the investigators,” and one witness said she remembers them “warning that she could get in trouble if she testified,” and it seemed “like a threat.”
In a statement responding to this incident, “the office acknowledged that its reinvestigation had ‘unique challenges’ and noted that an earlier judicial ruling had accused Bauri of intimidating witnesses — accusations that a different judge later discounted, records show,” said the New York FOCUS.
Ultimately, the New York FOCUS writes, Bauri’s rejection bid was rejected by the CIU, which said there was insufficient evidence to prove Bauri’s innocence, but three “months later, based on the same evidence that led the CIU to reinvestigate it, a judge vacated Bauri’s conviction and ordered a new trial.”
Bauri later stated in an interview his CIU experience was a “waste of time,” describing the CIU’s handling of the case to be dismissive and biased because of his past as a drug dealer, reports the New York FOCUS.
New York FOCUS also highlights another case after the CIU was newly established in 2019 amid a reelection campaign.
Anthony Miller was wrongfully convicted of armed robbery in Rochester, and he sought assistance from Monroe County’s new CIU, states the New York FOCUS, adding the CIU rejected his bid due to insufficient evidence, despite “disagreements among committee members” within the CIU.
In 2020, one year after his bid was rejected, a judge overturned Miller’s conviction, reported the FOCUS, adding, “The judge cited ‘considerable, objective evidence’ of his innocence — the same evidence that the CIU had found insufficient earlier.”
New York FOCUS found the DA has control of “nearly all of the conviction review process,” whether it is budgeting, appointing the unit chief, supporting an exoneration, or shutting down a reinvestigation without need of explanation.
A state bar task force urged New York DAs to establish CIUs and proposed funding and oversight measures to improve effectiveness, writes the New York FOCUS, noting “the state did little to advance the recommendations,” and other reformers argue that “there’s little point in mandating more CIUs without addressing the existing units’ flaws.”
The New York FOCUS wrote Bauri stated that “his experience has taught him that DAs’ offices can’t police themselves,” noting until the “CIU process is independent…it won’t be impartial.”
