BILL NUMBER: S5137
SPONSOR: GIANARIS
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the criminal procedure law and the executive law, in
relation to requiring the prosecution to disclose to the defendant
certain information relating to jailhouse informants; and to require
prosecutors to notify victims of the informant's crimes in certain
circumstances
 
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this bill is to provide transparency surrounding jail-
house informants' statements and benefits, to limit when these benefits
can be offered, and to require that victims in crimes jailhouse infor-
mants have been involved in are notified of any offered, promised, or
provided benefit(s) they may receive.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill adds § 245.21 to the criminal procedure law with
the following subsections.
Subsection one sets forth definitions of the terms "benefit" and "jail-
house informant."
Subsection two requires that prosecutors make disclosures that are rele-
vant to a jailhouse informant's testimony, and lists out the information
that must be disclosed.
Subsection three provides that counsel for the defense is to be provided
the opportunity to depose jailhouse informants prior to entering into
plea negotiations or the commencement of trial or other proceedings.
Subsection four prohibits prosecutors from offering benefits to certain
jailhouse informants dependent upon the type of crime.
Subsection five requires prosecuting attorneys to receive judicial
consent to reduce or dismiss any pending charges for jailhouse
informant's testimony or other cooperation.
Subsection six requires prosecuting attorneys using information provided
by jailhouse informants to maintain such records and report the contents
to the Division of Criminal Justice Services, who shall maintain a data-
base that discloses this information to prosecuting attorneys and
defense attorneys upon request.
Section two of the bill adds subdivision 2-b to § 642 of the executive
law and sets forth requirements for prosecutors to notify jailhouse
informants' victims of benefits such informants have been offered, prom-
ised, or provided.
Section three of the bill sets the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
As of February 2024, approximately 3,478 exonerations have occurred in
the United States for those who were convicted of a crime they did not
commit. This has led to a loss of over 31,678 years for those waiting to
have their wrongful convictions addressed. One of the contributing
factors to wrongful convictions is the use of jailhouse informant testi-
mony. According to data analyzed by the Innocence Project, such testimo-
ny accounts for 19% of DNA exoneration cases.
Jailhouse informants have strong incentives to provide fabricated or
misleading information to prosecutors in exchange for benefits such as
plea bargains, bail agreements, the reduction or modification of
sentences, and other forms of leniency in exchange for their testimony.
As a matter of transparency, it is essential that these incentives be
disclosed to defense counsel, and in turn judges and juries, as this
information provides important context. In fact, according to a 2018
study (Key et. al., 2018), over 80% of student and community partic-
ipants believed that jurors should know if jailhouse informants receive
incentives to testify. Ensuring that information surrounding jailhouse
informants' testimony and benefits is available to defense counsel is
imperative and will provide increased protections against wrongful
convictions in New York State.
To date, five states (Texas, Illinois, Connecticut, Minnesota, and
Nebraska) have enacted laws that require prosecutors to disclose agree-
ments made with jailhouse informants and other relevant information. By
requiring that prosecutor's disclose agreements between the government
and jailhouse informants, we can improve transparency in our criminal
legal system.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24: S166 (Gianaris) died in Codes / A6847 (Cruz) died in codes
2021-22: S8342 (Gianaris) died in Codes
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after which it shall
have become a law.

Statutes affected:
S5137: 642 executive law