Prosecutors are demanding Gov. Kathy Hochul veto controversial legislation allowing criminals to overturn their convictions by proving their “innocence” after Assembly Democrats approved the idea on Tuesday.

“Under this bill, no conviction or plea would ever be final,” J. Anthony Jordan, president of the District Attorneys Association of New York, said.

“Under the bill, every plea agreement would be subject to challenge years later, when witnesses and evidence would be difficult to obtain.”

The “Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act, which passed the state Senate earlier this month, would loosen state laws to make it easier to overturn convictions without DNA evidence.

This would include situations where other types of forensic evidence emerge or proof that someone entered a guilty plea under certain kinds of pressure — like avoiding the chances of a lengthy prison sentence.

A Hochul spokeswoman said the governor will review the legislation, which passed the Assembly 91-46 on Tuesday, before deciding to sign or veto it before the end of the year. 

While nominally stating their support for helping innocent people clear their names, Republicans said passing the bill was one more sign of progressive reforms run amok just weeks after moderates secured a rollback to bail reform after a bitter budget fight.

“How many times are Democrats going to tip the scales of justice in favor of convicted criminals? Victims and law enforcement continue to be an afterthought in Albany,” Assembly Minority Leader William Barclay (R-Fulton) railed on Tuesday.

A final version of the bill did not get through the Assembly earlier this month, but it got another chance thanks to Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), who reconvened his chamber on Tuesday and Wednesday to finish its work for the year.

Supporters of the legislation note that prosecutors have numerous ways to pressure criminal defendants to accept plea deals in hopes of avoiding harsh sentences after a trial.

“Prosecutors, who hold all the power in the plea process, employ tactics, with the court’s blessing, designed to extract pleas from clients. They will seek to detain clients pretrial, only to make a plea offer that will grant them immediate release, knowing that people will do anything for their freedom,” Adnan Sultan of the Innocence Project wrote last month in City & State NY.

At least 23 people who pleaded guilty to crimes in New York since 1989 were exonerated later on, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. 

“Knowing that innocent people plead guilty, many states allow convicted defendants to obtain post-conviction relief with any evidence of innocence, regardless if they plead guilty,” Nieves added. “Unfortunately, New York is in the minority and out of step with the realities of the criminal legal system.”

The proposal would create a right to post-conviction criminal discovery of evidence as well as create ways for convicts to get court-appointed attorneys.

Convictions could also get tossed if the underlying crime no longer exists, like with certain types of drug crimes.

“New York is third in the nation in confirmed wrongful convictions.  So it has never been more important for New York to overhaul our antiquated statutory scheme and replace it with one that brings us in line with other states and begins to address this shameful fact,” Andrea Nieves of the New York County Defender Services said.

A Heastie spokesman did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Republicans are unswayed by arguments coming from the other side of the aisle while nominally stating their commitment to helping innocent people clear their names.

“Everyone can agree that wrongful convictions should be prevented, but processes and protocols already exist for that,” said Barclay.

Albany Democrats weeks ago approved “Clean Slate” legislation to automatically seal criminal records for people who serve their time in prison and are on parole, though it remains unclear whether Hochul will sign the bill into law.

Passing another criminal justice reform is “completely unnecessary, according to Assemblyman Michael Tannousis (R-Staten Island), a former prosecutor who argued the current post-conviction process works just fine.

“There would be no finality to convictions in New York state,” Tannousis said. “It would place an impossible burden on the criminal justice system and would significantly overburden our district attorneys’ offices.”