ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – A New York state agency launched four years ago to protect the disabled from abuse and neglect was staffed with a team of investigators and prosecutors empowered to bring criminal cases against alleged wrongdoers. But it lacked one key thing, according to three recent court rulings: the legal authority to actually prosecute anyone.
That has potentially put dozens of convictions in jeopardy and threatens to undermine the mission of the agency, known as the Justice Center, to protect the 1 million disabled, addicted and mentally ill in state care.
“The Justice Center’s approach is providing a ‘get out of jail free’ card to anyone they have within their sights,” said Democratic state Assemblyman Tom Abinanti, a frequent critic of the agency.
The three unrelated cases involved two staffers at facilities for troubled youth and a drug counselor charged with sexually abusing clients. Judges in Albany County dismissed the charges – in March, August and earlier this month – after determining the Justice Center couldn’t bring the cases because the state Constitution requires criminal prosecutors to be elected.
The judges added that the agency, which even has someone designated as a “special prosecutor,” could only bring criminal cases if it is working alongside a local district attorney.