Nicole M. Livsey, age 32, reported to be once living at 14 Franklin Street in Lyons, but perhaps homeless and "bouncing around" Lyons, was a free walking example of problems existing within the CAP (Centralized Arraignment Court) system in New York.
Livsey has numerous bench warrants from various charges including Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance, Petit Larcenies, False Impersonations and Bail Jumping.
Her arrest last week was her 20th arrest since November of 2024 in what police describe as a revolving door of frustration.
This countywide CAP collaboration was supposed to make the criminal justice system more efficient and allow police and law enforcement officers to get back on the road sooner, improving public safety. In reality, it has done just the opposite.
New York State law allowed counties to create off-hours, centralized arraignment parts to facilitate timely court processing and an individual’s right to counsel at first appearance after arrest. This new system apparently replaced municipal judges being called out at all hours for arraignments and the varied bail decisions made by town justices.
It was also aimed at fostering efficiency and easing logistical and administrative burdens by assigning off-hours arraignments to local criminal court judges according to a rotating, predetermined schedule. This ensures a judge within the county is always available to handle an arraignment.
The local judges take, or are assigned times where they all participate in the CAP Court system, held at the Wayne County Jail. Defendants are held in jail until CAP Court is held in the early morning hours, seven days a week.
Wayne County Public Defender Andrew Correia favors the CAP system and applied for and received a grant allowing for his department to have a lawyer present at all CAP Court arraignments. He welcomed the new CAP Court system as a plus for defending the legal rights of defendants accused of a crime at the time of their arraignment.
Wayne County District AttorneyChristine Callanan stated her department does not have the funding to allow the presence of a lawyer at CAP Court to plea the case of jail or bail for defendants in cases where it can be justified. Her department is often called on bail recommendations, but the court does not have to follow the DA’s suggested bail and too often releases defendants without bail.
It turns out police agencies are spending much more time and money chasing down bench warrants for defendants who ‘fail to appear’ in municipal courts for their crimes. Some defendants, such as Livsey are an example of how defendants misuse the system.
The changes for local judges who are instructed by the law are to use the least restrictive penalty for defendants. This resulted in few bails or incarcerations for a multitude of crimes from minor to more serious arrests.
Instead of helping the overstretched police and courts the backlog of cases has increased. The long wait periods for defendants and incarceration rates filling local jails was supposed to decrease under the CAP system, but the law and changes only shifted tax dollars going forward.
Callanan stated "In conversations I’ve had with law enforcement, the frustration with returning defendants repeatedly on bench warrants is undeniable. Officers see firsthand the revolving door of catch and release. They arrest the same defendants over and over after they fail to appear, only to see them back on the street before their shifts end. The real cost isn’t just in time and resources, it’s to morale. It’s exhausting, disheartening and erodes the confidence in the justice system they risk their safety to uphold."
Wayne County Sheriff Rob Milby spoke out on the issue.
"Our bench warrants have gone up exponentially in the last few years. We hear all the time about how numbers of crime are going down, which I question. The true measurement of crime is how people feel in their community and from what I am told, people don’t feel as safe with our system as it currently stands. I am constantly seeing examples of how our own system is working to deconstruct itself. (Halt, less is more, elder parole, and suggested legislation that you can find out there that decriminalizes criminals.)
Our own attorney general recently made a suggestion that we ban all pursuit policies. It is frustrating to watch legislators pass, and constantly suggest, policies/laws/mandates that are adverse to a secure community. Yes it is time-consuming to continually hunt for and bring people back to court who are not incentivized in any way to return, but that is not what we are sworn to do. We will always do our job and bring people back to court no matter how many times they are freed.
As long as I’m Sheriff this agency will stand against lawlessness and never quit doing what we are sworn to do and we will never stop advocating for our victims.
Our system needs revision and we will stand fast until common sense rules the day."
Wayne County is not alone in police/court frustrations with the New York CAP Court laws. Municipal courts are following the rules and too often are the brunt of criticism.
Yes, some local CAP courts have a tendency to lean towards leniency at the initial hearings, mostly due to the language and misunderstanding of the law. The increased paper work is also a negative factor in the current CAP Court system.
Callanan added that Bail Jumping is a bail qualifying offense under CPL 510.10 (q). However, it is still discretionary. “Failing to Appear” is not a criminal charge so it is not bail eligible. When a court issues a warrant for a defendant, it appears as a failure to appear in their criminal history and can be considered as one of many factors by Judges when evaluating whether or not to set bail.
