Vance
Two years of Cyrus Vance: How's he doing?
On the afternoon of Aug. 23, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. stood before a room packed with journalists and television cameras to explain why his office had decided to dismiss the sexual-assault charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
The case against the former International Monetary Fund chief - arrested May 14 for allegedly attacking a hotel maid - captured international attention, but it fell apart as doubts about the woman's credibility grew too profound to ignore.
Seconds into Vance's remarks, the floor began to shake. As it dawned on everyone that New York was experiencing a rare earthquake, prosecutors and journalists scattered, leaving Vance flashing a nervous smile at the podium.
"Okay, okay, okay," he said, as his staff ushered him towards the exit. "I've been through earthquakes."
The moment was emblematic of what by any measure has been a tumultuous tenure. For Vance, the collapse of the Strauss-Kahn case capped a string of high-profile setbacks this summer, including the dismissal of felony charges against two police officers charged with rape as well as the acquittals of several contractors indicted in the deaths of two firefighters in a lower Manhattan building fire. That record sparked speculation that Vance could be vulnerable to a political challenge next year.
As Vance reaches the mid-point of his four-year term, Reuters surveyed nearly two dozen defense lawyers and current and former prosecutors, seeking their assessment of the man who took over one of the nation's busiest DA's offices from the legendary Robert Morgenthau.
While Vance gets mixed reviews from the legal community, there is broad consensus that despite some rough patches, he is well-positioned to win reelection in 2013. Vance has lined up significant political support and is sitting on a growing campaign war chest that could scare off potential opponents.
Vance's campaign committee last month held a fundraiser cocktail reception at a boutique Manhattan hotel, attended by former New York City mayors David Dinkins and Ed Koch. As of July, nearly two years before the Democratic primary election, Vance had nearly $750,000 on hand- about one-quarter of his fundraising total for the 2009 election.
During an hour-long interview with Reuters in his expansive office in lower Manhattan, where a weathered "North West" sign provides a reminder of his early career as a white-collar attorney in Seattle, Vance, 57, said he has no regrets about his tenure so far, including his handling of the Strauss-Kahn case.
"I think our office handled the matter at every stage correctly, based upon the information we had. I think to look back with hindsight is always easier," he said. "What motivates the assistants in this office, and what motivates me, is not the number of convictions we get. It is not, essentially, putting points on the board. You're not going to win every case."
He was quick to point out, though, that the office enjoys more than a 90-percent conviction rate for indicted felony cases, and he expressed frustration that the press tends to dwell on a few sensational cases. "I wish that we were better able to get out to the outside world all the work the office is doing and all the areas we're doing them in," he said.
Discovery battles
Media coverage of Vance has, in fact, been heavily weighted toward the Strauss-Kahn case. But for many in the criminal-defense bar, the biggest story relates to a matter that's far more important to the day-to-day administration of justice: the rules of discovery.
As a candidate for District Attorney, Vance said he supported broader discovery practices, leading many lawyers to assume he would pursue a liberalized discovery policy when he was elected.
Critics have asked why Vance doesn't follow the lead of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, who instituted what he calls "open-file discovery," which involves providing police reports and other documents to defense lawyers well before trial. Several defense lawyers complained that under Vance, prosecutors have become, if anything, less forthcoming with discovery materials and more likely to hold them until the last possible moment.
But Vance's deputies say there is no empirical evidence that open-file discovery leads to more efficiency or fairer outcomes. And Vance said his intention with regards to discovery was always to seek legislative reform, so "the rules are clear for both sides." So far, though, Vance has not pushed the matter in Albany.
Adam Freedman, a criminal-defense lawyer with a solo practice, said he views Vance's discovery practices as a reflection of a record that is far less "progressive" than Vance's campaign rhetoric promised. Indeed, on matters ranging from bail requests to plea offers, several defense lawyers said,Vance has too often taken a hard line to prove he is tough on crime. "Everywhere it can be escalated," said one lawyer who asked to remain anonymous, "it has been escalated."
Vance on vance
In the face of such criticism, Vance and his supporters said he has sought to strike a balance between aggressive criminal prosecution and policies aimed at preventing crime in the first place and providing alternatives to incarceration for non-violent criminals.
On the prosecutorial side of the ledger, for example, in recent months Vance said he has concentrated on combating street violence, bringing several high-profile cases involving Harlem gangs, including the so-called 137th Street Crew-a case Vance personally presented to a grand jury. A beefed-up cybercrime unit has dismantled several alleged identity theft rings, including one that targeted donors to the United Jewish Appeal-Federation, a prominent charity.
An ambitious campaign to reduce the crushing backlog of misdemeanor cases in New York City Criminal Court has resulted in 15 percent fewer pending cases as of November than in 2010, according to the Office of Court Administration (OCA). As part of that effort, prosecutors have more often downgraded Class A misdemeanor charges to Class B offenses, which are decided by a judge, rather than juries, leading to faster adjudication.
The young prosecutors in Criminal Court have seen their caseloads reduced: first-year assistant district attorneys now handle just half the cases that they did in 2009, said Vance spokeswoman Erin Duggan. With more time to work on individual cases, in 2011 those prosecutors saw 50 percent fewer dismissals due to speedy trial violations than in 2010, according to OCA statistics.
At the same time, Vance said that his office has taken a holistic approach to crime prevention. He recently completed plans to open a Family Justice Center at the district attorney's office. Similar to facilities in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, the center will combine prosecutors from the domestic-violence and child-abuse bureaus with counseling and social services, enabling victims to seek both legal and financial assistance in one place.
Vance also touted his role in working with OCA to create a mental-health court that handles non-violent defendants with mental illnesses. And he was equally effusive about the weekend basketball clinic for at-risk youth his office set up in Harlem in conjunction with the New York Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Morgenthau's shadow
Perhaps unavoidably, with nearly every policy that Vance introduces, the shadow of Morgenthau looms large. That's clear in the persistent criticism from some defense lawyers that Vance has limited the freedom ADAs had under Morgenthau to dispose of cases as they saw fit.
"The prosecutors I'm dealing with have no discretion to do anything without checking with their supervisor," said defense lawyer Lori Cohen of Cohen & Funk. "The micromanagement in the district attorney's office now is overwhelming."
As a result, several defense lawyers said, attorneys often have to wait months to finalize plea deals in everyday felony cases.
Vance responded that his ADAs still have more discretion than other state and federal prosecutors in New York City. His prosecutors, for instance, are allowed to seek plea bargains after indictments are handed up - a practice that's barred in some other jurisdictions.
Besides, a measure of oversight is necessary, Vance said, to ensure the same crimes are treated in the same way, without variation between trial bureaus or individual prosecutors. "Does it take away some of the discretion?" Vance asked. "Perhaps - but, I think, entirely appropriately."
Vance contended that much of the resistance to his approach is attributable to the fact that his predecessor served for 35 years, and that people are naturally resistant to change. Morgenthau experienced a similar backlash when he took over for Frank Hogan, himself a 32-year officeholder, Vance said.
"People say, he's not Bob Morgenthau," said Michael Cherkasky, a lawyer who is heading Vance's re-election campaign fundraising effort and who served as Morgenthau's campaign manager in 1986. "Bob Morgenthau wasn't Bob Morgenthau in 1978."
(Published by Reuters - January 3, 2012)