New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Photo: Rick Kopstein

Weighing in on the war of words—and blame—between New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and the state court system over what has caused of the city's weeks-long major rise in street crime, the Legal Aid Society is calling de Blasio's comments blaming courthouse closures "utterly devoid of logic."

"Mayor Bill de Blasio's claim that the recent uptick in shootings is somehow the fault of our court system is entirely unsupported by any evidence and utterly devoid of logic," said Tina Luongo, attorney-in-charge of Legal Aid's criminal defense practice, in a statement.

"It also ignores the far more likely explanation that in New York, as elsewhere, any increase is attributable to the current crises caused by the pandemic and economic collapse," said Luongo.

In addition, Luongo said that "New York's court system has been functioning virtually now for months, including arraignments for those arrested, bail hearings, pleas and conferences." She further said that "the necessary switch [during the COVID-19 pandemic] to virtual proceedings does not and has not prevented prosecutors from seeking bail, the courts from setting bail or remanding individuals charged with certain crimes, or law enforcement from conducting investigations."

The battle over the cause of the city's recent major spike in shootings and street crime has been raging publicly for several weeks between de Blasio and the state court system, which runs the administration of justice and legal services throughout the city's courthouses.

For example, shortly after a violent July 4 weekend in the city, de Blasio repeatedly pointed to the city's curtailed criminal court capabilities during the pandemic as a major reason for the recent increase in crime, according to the New York Post.

"I think, from my point of view, the most central issue is the fact that the court system is not functioning — that when our police effectuate an arrest, they don't have the same follow-through they're used to seeing from the court system," de Blasio said about the city's crime spike, according to The Post.

"We've got to get the court system up and running, we've got to get the [district attorneys] doing their work so that we can address folks who are violent in communities and causing harm to their neighbors," he also said, according to the report.

And at a July 16 press briefing, he further said, according to The Post, "I am imploring everyone at the Office of Court Administration, please, we need our court system to run again. We cannot keep this city safe if we don't have a functioning court system, it has been too many months already." He then added reportedly, "Please hear our plea because that's what will keep our communities safe."

But each time the mayor has made such comments, OCA has pushed back.

"Throughout this pandemic, through the unceasing hard work and dedication of judges, non-judicial staff and court officers, the New York State Court system has continued to function. We have never closed: not for one day, not for one hour, not for one minute," said spokesman Lucian Chalfen on July 16, reported The Post.

And later that same night, state Chief Judge Janet DiFiore delivered a letter to de Blasio, which she shared with all 16,000 state court employees, in which she shot back at the public statements de Blasio had made July 16, according to a Post report.

"I write to correct the numerous inaccuracies you levied against the court system in your public statements at today's press conference," wrote DiFiore in the letter, adding that since the middle of March, when the courts closed their doors physically because of COVID-19, city criminal court had conducted almost 19,000 arraignments, 34,000 other criminal proceedings and more than 600 felony preliminary hearings.

She also said the court system had "adapted in ways that were unimaginable only a few months ago."

On Thursday evening, Chalfen, the court system spokesman, told the New York Law Journal in an email, "The Mayor's continuing narrative regarding the operation of the State Court System throughout the pandemic is at best totally factually incorrect and at worst an attempt to shift the blame for his inability to manage the increase in New York's street violence."

Chalfen also said that the July 16 "letter that the Chief Judge [DiFiore] sent to the Mayor asking that he address those mischaracterizations remains unanswered."

The mayor's press office referred a request for comment to the city's Law Department. The Law Department did not respond to a request for comment.

On July 17, a City Hall spokeswoman pointed in comments made to The Post to the ongoing "absence of grand juries," due to court closures during the pandemic, which have reportedly caused many criminal cases to be delayed, and said that "we have not been able to begin a single new trial" and "virtual [court] appearances are no substitute for a fully functioning court system."

Legal Aid's Luongo, in her statement released Wednesday firing back at de Blasio, said, "The Mayor and NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea are clearly taking aim at the courts now because they can offer no support for their baseless claim that bail reform and the release of incarcerated people vulnerable to COVID-19 have somehow led to an increases in crime."

She added, "The Mayor should stop making these reckless comments and instead educate himself on the fundamentals of our criminal legal system."