In a unanimous decision, the New York Court of Appeals has endorsed the legislative reform of the discovery law that was enacted in 2019 and first effective on Jan. 1, 2020. In People v. Bay, 2023 N.Y. Slip Op 06407 (2023), the court acknowledged the raison d’etre of the new law: that the People cannot be ready for trial without having fully complied with their discovery obligations.

Prior to the law’s enactment, there was no linkage between trial readiness under Criminal Procedure Law §30.30 and discovery compliance. The Court of Appeals had previously held that prosecutorial delays in producing discovery items were not cognizable under the speedy trial statute because there were other specific statutory sanctions available under Criminal Procedure Law Article 240, the former discovery statute. See People v. McKenna, 76 N.Y.2d 59 (1990). Thus, a prosecutor’s statement of readiness was not affected by any failure to provide discovery and a court could have found the People ready for trial despite the fact that they had not complied with their discovery obligations.