A protester bleeding from his head is restrained and arrested. Photo Ryland West

One day after New York County Supreme Court Justice James Burke denied a writ filed by New York's Legal Aid Society on behalf of people held in New York City jails for more than 24 hours without arraignment, Legal Aid filed a notice of appeal to the Appellate Division, First Department.

The appeal will be calendared for a future hearing, and interim relief will not be available, state court spokesman Lucian Chalfen said Friday.

Ninety-two people across the city had been held for more than 24 hours at the time of filing Friday afternoon, according to Legal Aid. The number fluctuated into the hundreds this week, with many arrests related to mass protests for racial justice and against police brutality across the city.

Arguing on behalf of the New York City Police Department, an attorney for the New York City Law Department told Burke that the slowdown in arrest-to-arraignment times happened because the city was facing "a crisis within a crisis."

Virtual arraignment parts introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic operate more slowly, attorneys for the police argued, and police officers are no longer writing summons on the streets for safety reasons. The virtual arraignment parts expanded this week, including with the addition of an overnight shift, but the NYPD attorneys argued that they are still facing a difficult situation.

Burke echoed the "crisis within a crisis" phrase in his oral ruling Thursday, finding that both state and federal law permit delays in the arrest-to-arraignment timeline in certain situations.

In a statement on the appeal Friday, Tina Luongo, attorney-in-charge of the Legal Aid Society's Criminal Defense Practice, said she looks forward to a successful outcome in the Appellate Division.

"The NYPD is not above the law, and detaining New Yorkers for more than 24 hours after an arrest and denying them speedy access to a judge violates … our fundamental standards of justice," Luongo said. "92 New Yorkers held illegally, deprived of their due process rights, is 92 New Yorkers too many."

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