February 27, 2019

Erie County District Attorney John Flynn

25 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14202

Dear Erie County District Attorney John Flynn,

The District Attorneys Association of the State of New York (DAASNY), the statewide prosecutors’ lobbying
group, has long stood in the way of progressive changes to criminal legal system. This year is no different, as
DAASNY is once again, the primary opposition to passing legislative changes that would advance justice, equity
and an end to mass incarceration in New York State. DAASNY is actively lobbying to halt passage of critical
pretrial legislation – bail, discovery and speedy trial reform bills. As the New York Times Editorial Board noted,
the District Attorneys are not arguing against these bills based on actual merits, but instead using scare-tactics in
an effort to distract people from the real policy debate.

Here in Erie County, we are disappointed that you, the local District Attorney, have not stepped outside of the
yoke of DAASNY to support progressive reforms that your constituency – which includes low income, working
class, Black, Brown and Latinx people targeted by mass criminalization – is calling for. This flies in the face of
the progressive values that you say you stand for. As an elected official of Erie County, you have not supported
the bills in the legislature that would end money bail, improve the discovery process, protect people’s rights to a
speedy trial and address our county’s discriminatory mass jailing issue. Instead you’ve remained subordinated to
DAASNY’s disingenuous lobbying efforts.

In recent weeks, DAASNY reached a new low, arguing against the end of money bail and pretrial decarceration
by stating that it was crucial that district attorneys could set bail amounts that people could not afford, in order to
force them into plea agreements that include drug treatment. On the public health side, in the midst of a historic
overdose crisis, this is an extremely wrongheaded approach. It’s also illegal under the current bail statute in New
York, which prohibits money bail being set except to secure someone’s return to court. This is unacceptable.

We expect that democracy, and the needs and demands of constituents, drive the legislative processes. We expect
that your office follow the laws it is entrusted to uphold as we work toward transformation of the system. Today,
we call on you, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn, to:

1. Leave DAASNY and publicly disavow the lobbying groups’ use of dog-whistle tactics to deliberately
arouse public fear and alarm in order to block progressive reforms to the criminal legal system.
2. Publicly support legislative proposals endorsed by our grassroots campaigns to:
1. End money bail and mass pretrial incarceration - S2101
2. Require open, early and automatic discovery in criminal cases - S1716/A1431
3. Ensure the right to a speedy trial - S1738

Sincerely,

Citizen Action of New York

VOCAL-NY
New York Communities for Change
JustLeadershipUSA

1439 MAIN STREET, BUFFALO, NY 14209 | 518.465.4600 | INFO@CITIZENACTIONNY.ORG