Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg doubled down on his controversial, progressive policies Thursday — defiantly declaring that the US Constitution gives him the right to not prosecute certain crimes.
During a virtual appearance at New York University School of Law, Bragg called prosecutorial discretion “a bedrock principle embedded in our Constitution.”
“Look, one thing that has happened — and it’s happened in our state, it’s happened federally — is the proliferation of criminal laws,” he said.
“No prosecutor is enforcing every single law all the time,” Bragg said. “We’re all exercising prosecutorial discretion.”
He added, “You know, what I and some others have done is: We said it out loud in the spirit of transparency.”
Bragg also said his “Day One” staff memo — which directs prosecutors to drop some misdemeanor cases, not seek bail or prison time for most defendants and to downgrade certain felonies to misdemeanors — remained “operative.”
In response to a question about what he would “have done differently about the rollout of your charging policies,” which have sparked outrage, Bragg said, “I would have provided far more context.”
“The purpose of the memo is to provide prosecutors with a framework for how to approach cases in the best interest of safety and justice,” he said.
Bragg insisted that the “lawyers in my office were hired for their keen judgment” and that “I want them to use that judgment and their experience in every case.”
But during a follow-up, virtual news conference, Bragg said assistant district attorneys would still need supervisory approval to take certain actions in court, including seeking pretrial detention or a jail or prison sentence.
When asked about prosecutions in the high-profile slayings of Barnard College student Tessa Majors and teenage Burger King cashier Kristal Bayron-Nieves, Bragg said, “I would expect a supervisor to be involved.”
“Even were it not for the memo, the memo would guarantee it, and then I would expect discretion to be exercised, and looking at things that are truly graphic and violent to be handled accordingly,” he said. “The memo sets forth that framework.”
In addition to more than a dozen reporters, crisis-communications expert Risa Heller signed in to the Zoom meeting but didn’t participate.
Last week, The Post exclusively revealed that Bragg was consulting with Heller and his former boss, ex-Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara, to prepare to address the criticism that he’s faced since taking office Jan. 1.
Also during Thursday’s news conference, Bragg tried to downplay another Post exclusive about how at least nine Manhattan prosecutors quit after he took over, including one who a law enforcement source said “left without a job” on principle.
“I think it’s a really, really modest number that have departed,” he said. “And I addressed the office earlier today. I think morale is good.”
