Appeals Court Sides With New Rochelle Judge in Discovery Fight With Westchester DA’s Office

NEW ROCHELLE, NY (June 24, 2026) — The Appellate Division, Second Department, has rejected the Westchester County District Attorney’s attempt to overturn a New Rochelle City Court ruling that sanctioned prosecutors for disclosing evidence late, in a decision handed down today that upholds a judge’s authority to penalize the DA’s office for discovery violations.

The decision, in Matter of Rocah v. McCarthy, resolves a fight that began in January 2022 when then-New Rochelle City Court Judge Matthew J. Costa precluded a New York State trooper from testifying in a DWI case after finding the Westchester DA’s office had disclosed impeachment evidence about the trooper too late, prejudicing the defendant. Then-District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah’s office sought an extraordinary writ of prohibition to block the ruling, arguing Costa had exceeded his authority. The Supreme Court agreed with Rocah in a January 2023 judgment issued by then-Justice Susan Cacace — who is now the sitting Westchester County District Attorney. The Second Department disagreed today, reversing that decision.

The Underlying Case

The case is People v. Molina, in which the defendant, Michael Molina, was charged with driving while intoxicated. Costa precluded the testimony of the arresting State trooper and any evidence obtained by him after determining Molina was prejudiced by the People’s belated disclosure of impeachment material concerning the trooper. Because the trooper was the only officer on scene, the ruling effectively prevented the DA’s office from prosecuting the case.

Rocah’s office argued that Costa lacked authority to impose the sanction because Molina had not separately shown prejudice or bad faith. The Second Department disagreed, holding that determining whether prejudice exists is itself a legal determination courts are authorized to make under the discovery statute, CPL 245.80. The panel — Justices Colleen D. Duffy, Francesca E. Connolly, Laurence L. Love, and Susan Quirk — found that even if Costa’s prejudice determination was wrong, it amounted at most to an error of law, not an unlawful seizure of judicial power for which the extraordinary remedy of prohibition is available.

“Granting prohibition here would constitute improper collateral interlocutory review,” Justice Quirk wrote for the court.

Costa’s Resignation

Costa resigned from the New Rochelle City Court bench while the appeal was pending. Judge Eileen Songer McCarthy, who succeeded him on the underlying Molina case, was substituted as the named appellant, and the case caption changed accordingly from Rocah v. Costa to Rocah v. McCarthy.

Background

The case was argued before the Second Department on November 20, 2025, more than three years after the underlying ruling. The appeal had been pending since February 2023.

A related order issued by Costa in a second case, People v. Serrano, was also at issue in the appeal but was dismissed as academic after developments rendered that portion of the dispute moot.

The decision leaves intact Costa’s original preclusion order in the Molina case and effectively closes the door on the DA’s office’s use of an Article 78 prohibition proceeding as a means of overturning ordinary discovery sanctions imposed under CPL 245 — New York’s criminal discovery statute, which requires prosecutors to turn over evidence affecting witness credibility within mandated timeframes.

Cacace, whose 2023 ruling as a Supreme Court Justice has now been reversed, was elected Westchester County District Attorney in November 2023 and took office in January 2024, succeeding Rocah.

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