New York Criminal Lawyers Blog

As a New York criminal defense lawyer, I have handled numerous felony cases which went into the grand jury. The decision on whether to put forward a case before the grand jury or preserve your case for trial is always a sensitive decision. Numerous factors must be considered.

As a Westchester criminal defense lawyer, I have won Assault cases and gun cases in the grand jury. The situation where clients tend to testify before the grand jury is when the client has a strong defense such as actual innocence, justification, self defense or alibi.

Usually, when clients elect to testify before a grand jury, there is usually some time pressure. For example, when clients are incarcerated and unable to make bail, the factors which weigh in favor of testifying before the grand jury outweight the risks of waiting for trial. Of course, when a client is fighting a charge while out on bail, this time pressure is not present.

The drawback in putting a client before the grand jury is that the attorney is not allowed to speak, object or otherwise participated in the proceeding except for advising the client. The Prosecutors will often do things which are improper, and ask improper questions which are aimed at unfairly prejudicing the client. Unfortunately, there is nothing the attorney can do during the proceeding. However, the Criminal Procedural law also gives a New York criminal lawyer, the right to move to dismiss the indictment if the proceeding was not done fairly.

While the lawyer cannot participate in the actual proceeding, the Criminal Procedure Law in New York, does give the defendant the right to testify and present evidence. That means, if there are witnesses that support the defendants' position, the defense can proffer them and actual evidence can be proffered by the witnesses in a grand jury. Early investigation to discover favorable witnesses and evidence is essential to successful grand jury presentation and practice.

As a Westchester criminal defense lawyer who handles yonkers criminal cases, I have noticed that some of the local Westchester criminal courts, especially Yonkers have been refusing to set bail on felony cases.

The result is that many people who are arrested on felony charges have to sit in jail until their lawyers can get them produced in the Westchester Superior Court. Many criminal defense lawyers who don't regularly practice in Westchester have been unfamiliar with these new procedures.

On average it takes a day or two to have someone who is in remand status, (incarcerated without bail) on a felony transferred to the Westchester Superior Court. These cases can be transferred by making a phone call to the criminal clerk, who upon an oral request will put the case on for a bail hearing before the Westchester Superior Court.

It is imperative that Westchester criminal attorneys, call the Superior Court the same day if their clients are held without bail in Yonkers or another local criminal court. Otherwise the clients will spend time in jail for no reason.