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Article 340 - NY Criminal Procedure Law

• NY Laws ›
• CPL ›
• Part 2 ›
• Title K ›
• Article 340

 S 340.10 Definition of terms.
  The following definitions are applicable to this title:
  1.  "Information," in addition to its meaning as defined in
subdivision one of section 100.10, includes (a) a simplified information
and (b) a prosecutor`s information and (c) a misdemeanor complaint upon
which the defendant, by a waiver executed pursuant to subdivision three
of section 170.65, has consented to be prosecuted.
  2.  "Single judge trial" means a trial in a local criminal court
conducted by one judge sitting without a jury.
  3.  "Jury trial" means a trial in a local criminal court conducted by
one judge sitting with a jury.

S 340.20 The plea.
  1.  Except as provided in subdivisions two and three, the provisions
of article two hundred twenty, governing the kinds of pleas to
indictments which may be entered and related matters, are, to the extent
that they can be so applied, applicable to pleas to informations, and
changes of pleas thereto, in local criminal courts.
  2.  A plea to an information, other than one against a corporation,
must be entered in the following manner:
  (a)  Subject to the provisions of paragraph (b), a plea to an
information must be entered orally by the defendant in person unless the
court permits entry thereof by counsel upon the filing by him of a
written and subscribed statement by the defendant declaring that he
waives his right to plead to the information in person and authorizing
his attorney to enter a plea on his behalf as set forth in the
authorization.
  (b)  If the only offense or offenses charged are traffic infractions,
the procedure provided in sections eighteen hundred five, eighteen
hundred six and eighteen hundred seven of the vehicle and traffic law,
relating to pleas in such cases, is, when appropriate, applicable and
controlling.
  3.  A plea to an information against a corporation must be entered by
counsel.
  4. When a sentence is agreed upon by the prosecutor and a defendant as
a predicate to entry of a plea of guilty, the court or the prosecutor
must orally on the record, or in writing filed with the court, state the
sentence agreed upon as a condition of such plea.

S 340.30 Pre-trial discovery and notices of defenses.
  The provisions of article two hundred forty, concerning pre-trial
discovery by a defendant under indictment in a superior court, and
article two hundred fifty, concerning pre-trial notice to the people by
a defendant under indictment in a superior court who intends to advance
a trial defense of mental disease or defect or of alibi, apply to a
prosecution of an information in a local criminal court.

S 340.40 Modes of trial.
  1.  Except as otherwise provided in this section, a trial of an
information in a local criminal court must be a single judge trial.
  2.  In any local criminal court a defendant who has entered a plea of
not guilty to an information which charges a misdemeanor must be
accorded a jury trial, conducted pursuant to article three hundred
sixty, except that in the New York city criminal court the trial of an
information which charges a misdemeanor for which the authorized term of
imprisonment is not more than six months must be a single judge trial.
The defendant may at any time before trial waive a jury trial in the
manner prescribed in subdivision two of section 320.10, and consent to a
single judge trial.
  3. A defendant entitled to a jury trial pursuant to subdivision two,
shall be so entitled even though the information also charges an offense
for which he is otherwise not entitled to a jury trial.  In such case,
the defendant is not entitled both to a jury trial and a separate single
judge trial and the court may not order separate trials.
  7.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in any local criminal
court the trial of a person who is an eligible youth within the meaning
of the youthful offender procedure set forth in article seven hundred
twenty and who has not prior to commencement of the trial been convicted
of a crime or adjudicated a youthful offender must be a single judge
trial.

S 340.50 Defendant`s presence at trial.
  1.  Except as provided in subdivision two or three, a defendant must
be personally present during the trial.
  2.  On motion of a defendant represented by counsel, the court may, in
the absence of an objection by the people, issue an order dispensing
with the requirement that the defendant be personally present at trial.
Such an order may be made only upon the filing of a written and
subscribed statement by the defendant declaring that he waives his right
to be personally present at the trial and authorizing his attorney to
conduct his defense.
  3.  A defendant who conducts himself in so disorderly and disruptive a
manner that his trial cannot be carried on with him in the courtroom may
be removed from the courtroom if, after he has been warned by the court
that he will be removed if he continues such conduct, he continues to
engage in such conduct.

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