New York Criminal Procedure Basics

In the course of our practice, we've realized that educating our clients enhances our practice and allows us to provide better representation. Most criminal clients are intimidated by complex and unfriendly criminal justice procedures. We have seen numerous clients who were completely "lost in the system". While defending against a criminal charge is hardly a pleasant experience, we try to make it a little easier on our existing and potential clients by explaining the basics of the criminal procedure in the State of New York.

New York Courts' Criminal Jurisdiction

New York courts must have both subject matter jurisdiction and geographic jurisdiction over an offense. Only courts vested with criminal jurisdiction by the New York Criminal Procedure Law may conduct many statutorily required criminal proceedings such as issuing criminal search warrants.

Arrest, Search, and Seizure

The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. Even though there are many exceptions that allow the admission of otherwise inadmissible evidence, police must have probable cause for every search and seizure. Therefore, although it is preferable to have a search or arrest warrant in every search or seizure case, police may and do make warrantless arrests or searches that they believe are reasonable. The police may also stop and frisk a person if they have reasonable suspicion that the person possesses a dangerous weapon. The law requires that in such cases, the search must not exceed the permissible scope for that type of interference with liberty. Read more

New York Arraignment

An arraignment is the first appearance of the defendant in court where he is informed of charges filed against him, advised of the right to counsel, and provided with a copy of the accusatory document. The law requires that arraignments must be conducted without unreasonable delay following the defendant's arrest, which means within 24 hours. In New York City, it is not unusual for the defendant to spend more than 24 hours in jail prior to getting to see the judge. Read more

Preliminary Hearings

A preliminary hearing is an adversarial proceeding usually held after the arraignment at which the judge, using the probable cause legal standard, decides whether the prosecution has enough evidence against the defendant to go to trial. The probable cause standard determines whether the prosecution has produced enough evidence to convince a reasonable jury that the defendant is guilty. The only purpose of a preliminary hearing is to convince the judge that the case should or should not go to trial. Read more

Grand Jury

A grand jury is a group of no fewer than 16 and no more than 23 persons, which is convened by a superior court. Grand Jury investigates offenses by hearing and examining evidence to determine whether to permit prosecution of those offenses. Read more