The fundamental Constitutional rights to due process, proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and the presumption of innocence are not “mere technicalities” designed to obfuscate guilt.  Nor are the discovery reforms currently before the New York state legislature a set of procedural hurdles designed to make law enforcement’s job more difficult.  As NYSACDL President Ricahrd Willstatter writes “[t]he discovery reforms sought in the state legislature by our Association, by the Innocence Project, by the New York Civil Liberties Union and by the New York City Legal Aid Society, among others, would provide fairer and earlier access to the evidence against the accused and would require the prosecution to disclose information which is helpful to the accused. The failure of prosecutors to disclose information which is favorable to the accused is a violation of the constitution and yet these prosecutorial violations of law often result in no penalty whatever. When innocent people are convicted, the guilty are free to commit more crimes. Wrongful convictions are bad for everyone.”  (Willstatter, Response to to Editorial of Frank A. Sedita, III dated August 25, 2012).  NYSACDL disagrees with the recent editorial by Frank Sedita, III in the Buffalo News that wrongful acquittals outpace wrongful convictions.  (Wrongful Acquittals are Far More Common than Wrongful Convictions, BuffaloNews.Com, August 26, 2012).