Articles Posted in Understanding New York Criminal Law

Article 200 of the New York state Penal Law contains most of the criminal charges potentially applicable to bribes involving public officials. The charges in this chapter are generally quite serious, as most of them are classified as felonies (meaning that they are potentially punishable by more than a year in prison). (Note: Federal charges…

Although we do not usually publish blog posts in French, we have received several calls from news reporters in the wake of the recent arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn. One of our attorneys, Matthew Galluzzo, speaks French and regularly represents French nationals accused of crimes in New York. We have prepared the following summary of New…

Many people are arrested for signing someone’s name on a contract, letter, or other writing each year. However, forgery encapsulates much more than the act of simply another’s name. In fact, as we can see from the following recent New York forgery news stories, there are several documented cases of forgery which do not fall…

A desk appearance ticket, or “D.A.T.” as it is commonly referred to, is a written notice issued and subscribed by a police officer or other public servant directing you to appear in criminal court in connection with an alleged offense. It can be issued under certain circumstances when a person is being accused of committing…

Many juveniles in New York City are arrested every week and given a family court summons for a crime that would otherwise subject him or her to a permanent criminal record. A juvenile is “defined” in the Penal Law as a person under the age of sixteen years old. To be more precise, it is…

In New York state, it is illegal to possess and/or sell marijuana. Unsurprisingly, the penalties for selling marijuana are generally more severe than they are for merely possessing. Most people do not realize, however, that the definition of “sell” allows police to charge people with selling marijuana even though the “buyer” did not pay the…

In addition to prohibiting attempts to commit crimes (for example, where a person walks into a bank armed with a gun intending on holding up a teller, but is thwarted by a security guard before he can obtain any property) the law also punishes agreements to commit crimes. Thus, where two or more people have…

The legal prohibition of gravity knives is one of the most vexing crimes in New York state law. First, many people get arrested for this crime without having any idea that their knife is illegal, and this is very understandable given that “gravity knives” were for so long so readily available throughout New York state…

The New York Times recently featured an article concerning the prevalence of pain pill distribution rings throughout the United States. New York is no exception to this general trend. In fact, there have been several reports of illegal prescription drug rings in Staten Island and Manhattan, often times involving large distribution rings and physicians who…

The next time you are thinking about riding your bicycle on the sidewalk – think twice (or at least make sure there aren’t any police officers around)! Indeed, you might be surprised to learn that it is illegal in New York City to ride your bicycle on the sidewalk, but it is. Specifically, it is…