Centralized arraignment parts for off-hours arraignments are slated to begin in four upstate counties this month, Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks announced Monday.

In an effort to help deliver counsel to indigent defendants, the CAPs will operate evenings and weekends beginning Monday in Broome County and next Monday, Oct. 8, in Oneida County. CAPs in Onondaga and Washington counties are slated to begin later this month, Marks said in a press release.

The pilot program was established as part of a bill signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in November 2016. The idea of having off-hours arraignments was based on a recommendations of Marks' advisory committee on criminal law and procedure and was partly born out of New York's experience with the settlement in Hurrell-Harring v. State of New York (NYLJ, March 18, 2015). Plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit sued the state over allegations that services provided to indigent criminal defendants were constitutionally deficient. As part of the settlement, the state agreed to improve indigent criminal defense in Suffolk, Washington, Ontario, Onondaga and Schuyler counties, which were named as defendants in the case.