DA Candidate Diana Florence Releases Plan for Public Defenders Liaison

NEW YORK, NY (02/16/2021) (readMedia)-- Today, Diana Florence- candidate for Manhattan DA- released her full plan to create a Public Defenders Liaison and engage public defenders in creating a more collaborative, reform oriented District Attorney's office. The vision pairs with a plan to revamp the Conviction Integrity Unit.

"In order to break the existing concierge system of justice for the rich and powerful and build a system that works for all, the DA's office needs to engage public defenders," said Diana Florence. "The public defenders liaison will make sure that the people who work daily with primarily low income New Yorkers of color have a seat at the table when it comes to shaping a criminal justice system that puts people before power."

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Law School, Florence represented Latinx day laborers through the criminal defense clinic, using her legal education and Spanish language skills.

The Public Defenders Engagement plan includes:

Public Defender Liaison:

• Establish a Public Defender Liaison, to work directly with public defenders and their organizations.
• Hold monthly meetings with public defenders to ensure communication, accountability, and transparency.
• Offer a joint training program for junior prosecutors and junior public defenders to foster better understanding of their respective roles.

Restructuring the Conviction Integrity Unit:

• Revamp the current Conviction Integrity Unit to be more inclusive and transparent to people including those requesting to review their own cases, their lawyers, families and even the community.
• Expand the Conviction Integrity Unit case reviews to include all misdemeanors. The current Conviction Integrity Unit allows reviews of guilty pleas, pending appeals, and defendants serving jail sentences on misdemeanor cases only if a systemic failure led to guilty pleas.
• Review and support of clemency and pardon requests, as well as other reviews of cases for relief from long sentences that raise concern proportionality, fairness or where the applicant is elderly or ill and no longer poses a danger to the community.
• Ensure the unit is accountable to members of the community, public defenders, advocates, private attorneys and more who will review the findings of the unit at quarterly meetings.
• Staff the unit with lawyers- including public defenders- who have not previously worked for the Manhattan DA's Office to ensure transparency.

DANY Court App:

• Develop a DANY Court App in consultation with the court system. The app, which will be updated in real time, will allow parties to coordinate when cases are scheduled to be called to minimize wait time in court and avoid unnecessary trips for victims, attorneys and their clients.

Florence has been endorsed by fifteen labor unions including the Teamsters Joint Council 16, the Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, New York City Vicinity District Council of Carpenters, the New York State Ironworkers, Laborers Local 79, Mason Tenders District Council of Greater New York, Northeast District Council of the Operative Plasterers' & Cement Masons- Local Union 262 & Local Union 780, Heat and Frost Insulators Local 12, Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 1 and Local 7 (Tile, Marble, and Terrazzo), Sheet Metal Workers' Local 28, Building Materials Teamsters Local 282, Ironworkers Local 361, District Council 9 IUPAT Painters & Allied Trades, IUEC Local One Elevator Constructors, and LiUNA! NY.

Background:

Diana Florence began her career as a prosecutor 25 years ago in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, focusing on domestic violence cases, then complex frauds and corruption in the Special Prosecutions Bureau and Labor Racketeering Unit, and later becoming the head of the first of its kind Construction Fraud Task Force. At University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Law School, Florence represented Latinx day laborers through the criminal defense clinic.

She won landmark convictions against companies and individuals for defrauding 9/11 charities, corruption, domestic violence, wage theft, and deadly work conditions. She has taught trial advocacy for over two decades to lawyers in the DA's Office and has lectured investigators and lawyers from around the world on topics ranging from inter-agency cooperation to prosecuting fraud, racketeering and workplace homicide.

As an ADA, Diana held powerful interests accountable by prosecuting developers and corrupt corporations for cheating workers and taxpayers. In an historic case against Harco Construction, she ultimately secured justice for the family of a 22 year-old construction worker, Carlos Moncayo, who was buried alive at work. Using the existing criminal law, Diana charged the corporations and site supervisors, who had been repeatedly warned of hazardous conditions, with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for Moncayo's death. As a result, she drafted legislation (A10728) named after Carlos Moncayo, known as "Carlos' Law'' that would establish higher fines for corporations for endangering workers' lives.

Diana has made prosecuting wage theft a centerpiece of her career, notably working alongside IronWorkers Local 361 to secure $6 million in stolen wages and back-pay from AGL Industries. Diana subsequently wrote a bill (A06795) with Assemblymember Catalina Cruz (D-Queens) to reclassify wage theft as the more serious crime of larceny. Other jurisdictions- like the Pittsburgh City Council and Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner- subsequently created similar prosecution models for wage theft.

Diana has worked side-by-side with community based groups, unions, workers centers, and government agencies to create an innovative prosecution model heavily rooted in broad based participation. She is also a fluent Spanish speaker.

Platform

Diana Florence wants to make a new PACT (Power, Accountability, Community and Trust) with New York that puts people first. PACT prioritizes prosecuting "crimes of power", being accountable and transparent about the decisions of the DA, and working side-by-side with community stakeholders.

As an ADA, Diana created an innovative model of collaborative prosecution known as co-enforcement. Co-enforcement is based on knowledge instead of assumptions. It relies on collaboration with community partners to determine what justice looks like which then drives the priorities of investigation and prosecution. It starts with working alongside advocates, labor unions, tenants, worker centers, elected officials, industry groups, community leaders - the very people who are affected by crimes of power to ascertain the needs and values of the community. Using co-enforcement, the Construction Fraud Task Force Diana led built a trusting relationship with the community it served and together achieved success.

Biography

Born in Manhattan, Diana is a long-time resident of Kips Bay where she lives with her husband and two children. Diana graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, receiving a BA in Art History with a concentration in Spanish as well as her law degree.

Visit www.DianaForDA.com for more information.