A Manhattan appeals court unanimously rejected a claim that prosecutors have the power to limit certain kinds of defendants to whom judges can grant drug treatment diversion in lieu of criminal penalties.
The Appellate Division, First Department, criticized a practice of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office, permitted by some Manhattan trial judges, of adding charges to indictments that are not specified in the diversion statute as being diversion-eligible, and then asserting judges were precluded from granting diversion.
