An Ontario County judge dismissed a felony gang assault indictment against three defendants, ruling that prosecutors failed to meet statutory speedy trial and discovery requirements.
Acting Supreme Court Justice Gregory McCaffrey granted motions to dismiss the indictment against Horace Betts, Jamie Downing, and Tyler Liberatore, who had been charged with first-degree gang assault and second-degree assault stemming from a Dec. 31, 2024 incident in the City of Geneva.
The defendants were accused of causing serious physical injury to another person using a weapon or dangerous instrument. Their attorneys argued that the Ontario County District Attorney’s Office failed to disclose key discovery materials properly and therefore could not validly declare readiness for trial within the six months required under New York’s speedy trial law.
In a written decision dated Jan. 5, McCaffrey found that prosecutors filed multiple Certificates of Discovery Compliance between May and October 2025 that were “illusory,” citing a failure to exercise due diligence in obtaining readily available evidence.
The court determined that prosecutors did not disclose or provide body-worn camera footage from 14 law enforcement officers, security camera footage from a nearby bank, the criminal history of a named witness, and other materials that had been in the possession of the Geneva Police Department since January 2025. Some of the evidence, the judge noted, may have may have favored at least one of the defendants.
“All of these items were automatically discoverable,” the decision states, adding that they could have been obtained months earlier with minimal effort.
Following the ruling, Ontario County District Attorney Jason MacBride issued a statement acknowledging the failures and emphasizing that they occurred before his appointment as acting district attorney.
“This case suffered fatal speedy trial and discovery failures from the commencement of the prosecution in early January 2025,” MacBride said. He stated that the assistant district attorney previously assigned to the case failed to seek out known discovery items and did not disclose favorable evidence as required by law.
December, MacBride said he directed First Assistant District Attorney James Nobles to review pending felony trials. Nobles then obtained the missing discovery materials from the Geneva Police Department and provided them to defense counsel, but the effort came too late to prevent dismissal.
“This dismissal is extremely unfortunate on many levels,” MacBride said. “Most notably is the fact that a real victim will not receive the justice they deserve due to the inactions of those entrusted to serve him.”
MacBride added that his office is continuing to review cases for compliance issues as it works to rebuild and ensure adherence to discovery and constitutional obligations.
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