NEW YORK CITY, NY — Judge Victor Marrero of the federal court in Southern New York this week affirmed the public’s right to transparency regarding prosecutorial misconduct in the case of CRC v. Cushman, which involves about 50 ethics complaints filed by attorneys and law professors between 2021 and 2023, alleging prosecutorial infractions in New York.
These complaints were initially published on AccountabilityNY.org and according to the site, these infractions included providing secret benefits to a witness, allowing a witness to lie to the jury, concealing evidence of innocence, unlawfully discriminating against Black jurors and misleading the jury about the evidence in the case.
Corporation Counsel responded to these complaints from the Grievance Committees, writing that the professors were engaging in an “orchestrated campaign to upend the attorney grievance process” in a “misuse and indeed abuse” of the process “to promote a political agenda.”
However the federal court found the Grievance Committees were exercising their first amendment right, stating, “The First Amendment prohibits a state from banning complainants from publishing their own attorney grievance complaints.”
Judge Marrero’s ruling affirms the public’s constitutional right to observe disciplinary proceedings, review essential documents, and scrutinize Grievance Committees’ decisions.
This landmark decision challenges the prevailing culture of shielding prosecutorial misconduct while enhancing public confidence in the judicial system’s commitment to accountability, according to Peter Santina from the civil rights corps.
Judge Marrero emphasized, “If the proceedings and records related to the Grievance Complaints may embarrass state prosecutors, the Supreme Court long ago acknowledged that public officials’ reputations are not a higher value that supersedes the First Amendment.”
The judge added, “The misconduct of attorneys is uniquely harmful to the administration of justice and the rule of law in our society.”
