New law will help defendants at initial arraignments

On Monday, quietly, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law a measure that will lead to off-hours arraignment courts in the counties outside New York City.

The law is meant to ensure that everyone who’s arraigned on a criminal charge has a lawyer standing by his or her side - to enter a plea, to argue for bail, to advocate. No advocate can mean higher bail, and higher bail can mean the person is stuck in jail for long enough to lose a job - and the whole cascade of bad outcomes that can come from sudden unemployment. No advocate can mean a defendant who tries to argue on his or her own behalf risks saying something that could hurt his or her case. And people stuck in jail may feel compelled to plead guilty to something even if they are innocent.

Back in 2014, New York state settled a case known as Hurrell-Harring v. The State of New York.

The settlement in the case, hard fought and hard won by the New York Civil Liberties Union,

http://www.recordonline.com/news/20161129/heather-yakin-new-law-will-help-defendants-at-initial-arraignments