Legal guide
Structured explainers on the offenses, charges and court procedures that come up most often in Nassau County. Each one gives you the statute, the penalties, what actually happens, and a link to the primary source so you can check it yourself. Written and reviewed by James E. Toner.
Criminal Defense
An ACD stops the case and dismisses it automatically six months later, or a year in a family offense case. It is not a conviction, not an admission of guilt, and the...
Read the guideCriminal Defense
What the prosecution has to prove for assault in the third degree under Penal Law 120.00, what physical injury actually means, how it differs from menacing and haras...
Read the guideCriminal Defense
A New York judge must choose between release on recognizance, release under conditions, or bail, and bail is only available for a list of qualifying offenses. The le...
Read the guideCriminal Defense / Family Court
New York has not banned physical discipline, but the line between lawful correction and a criminal charge is narrower than most parents assume, and for a noncitizen ...
Read the guideCriminal Defense / Family Court
Violating an order of protection is charged as criminal contempt, arrest is mandatory for a stay away violation, and the person protected by the order cannot give yo...
Read the guideCriminal Defense
New York requires the prosecution to turn over its file automatically, within 20 days if you are in custody and 35 if you are not. Because readiness for trial depend...
Read the guideCriminal Defense
Possessing a loaded firearm outside your home or business is a class C violent felony carrying three and a half to fifteen years. Gravity knives, by contrast, were r...
Read the guideCriminal Defense
A DAT means you were arrested and released, not that the charge is minor. What a Desk Appearance Ticket is under CPL 150.20, when police must issue one, and why the ...
Read the guideCriminal Defense
Possessing any amount of a controlled substance is a class A misdemeanor with no weight threshold. Adding intent to sell makes it a class D felony at any weight, whi...
Read the guideCriminal Defense
New York lets a jury presume every occupant of a car possessed a weapon or drugs found inside it. What Penal Law 265.15 and 220.25 actually say, the exceptions that ...
Read the guideCriminal Defense / DWI and DUI
A second qualifying DWI conviction within ten years is a class E felony in New York, and a third within fifteen years is a class D felony. A prior DWAI does not coun...
Read the guideCriminal Defense
What separates petit larceny from grand larceny in New York, the four degrees and their dollar thresholds, the property types that make it a felony regardless of val...
Read the guideCriminal Defense / Family Court
Harassment in the second degree is a violation, not a crime. Menacing is about fear of injury and needs no contact at all. Both are family offenses, which is what ac...
Read the guideCriminal Defense / DWI and DUI / Family Court
Driving under the influence with a passenger fifteen or younger is a class E felony in New York on a first offense, with no prior conviction and no injury required. ...
Read the guideCriminal Defense / Family Court
The three courts that can issue an order of protection in New York, the difference between a temporary and a final order, what the terms actually restrict, and why v...
Read the guideCriminal Defense
Petit larceny is a class A misdemeanor covering theft of $1,000 or less, and you can be charged before leaving the store. The civil demand letter from the retailer i...
Read the guideCriminal Defense
Resisting arrest requires that the arrest was authorized. If the underlying arrest was unlawful, an element of the charge is missing, which is why the resisting coun...
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New York has no general expungement. It has sealing, by two separate routes: automatic sealing under the Clean Slate Act after three or eight years, and a discretion...
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New York is not a stand your ground state, but it is not as restrictive as people think either. The duty to retreat, the castle doctrine exception, when deadly force...
Read the guideCriminal Defense
CPL 30.30 does not guarantee a trial date. It requires the prosecution to announce readiness within six months for a felony or 90 days for a class A misdemeanor, and...
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A suppression hearing decides whether police obtained evidence lawfully. Because most cases rest on a gun, drugs, a statement or an identification, these hearings ar...
Read the guideCriminal Defense
A New York felony generally cannot proceed without an indictment voted by a grand jury. A defendant has the right to testify, but the notice must be in writing and a...
Read the guideCriminal Defense
Your first court appearance decides whether you go home. What the judge actually rules on, the securing order options after bail reform, and why CPL 180.80 matters i...
Read the guideCriminal Defense
A youthful offender finding replaces the conviction rather than reducing it, and in local criminal court on a first offense it is mandatory, not discretionary. Raise...
Read the guideThese are general explanations
Nothing here is advice about your situation. If something on these pages applies to you, the useful next step is a free consultation.
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