New York Law Watch
Criminal Law
Criminal offenses and substantive defenses are filed here, with Law Watch records on the elements of crimes, justification and the sufficiency of proof.
For Criminal Law, Law Watch lists 207 indexable decisions dated February 10, 2026 to November 12, 2026 across 14 decision weeks.
302 decision records: 207 meet the substance floor; 95 records are held from search listings.
The records below come from 7 courts and include both primary and secondary area classifications.
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Recent decisions
- People v Fioranelli2026 NY Slip Op 06582
The conviction for assault in the third degree and official misconduct was affirmed because the evidence was legally sufficient and not against the weight of the evidence. The court determined that the defendant, a police officer, lacked reasonable grounds to use pepper spray on a restrained victim.
- People v J.M.2026 NY Slip Op 06580
The appellate court affirmed the conviction and sentence but modified the judgment by striking probation conditions 14, 15, and 24 as unopposed. The court upheld the remaining probation conditions as reasonably related to the defendant’s rehabilitation, while declining to review unpreserved constitutional challenges.
- People v Henry2026 NY Slip Op 06579
The conviction for attempted burglary in the second degree was reversed due to ineffective assistance of counsel, as the grand jury evidence was legally insufficient to establish the requisite intent to commit a crime. The court found that counsel’s failure to properly litigate the insufficiency of the evidence after receiving the grand jury minutes implicated the voluntariness of the defendant’s guilty plea and waiver of appeal.
- People v Hart2026 NY Slip Op 06595
The court affirmed the conviction, determining that the defendant knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently waived his right to appeal through a combined oral and written waiver. Consequently, the defendant’s challenges to the severity of the sentence and fine were precluded, while his plea voluntariness claims were deemed unpreserved.
- People v Ellis2026 NY Slip Op 06594
The appellate court affirmed the conviction, determining that the defendant’s appeal waiver was valid and voluntary despite being discussed after the plea. The court further held that the defendant’s unpreserved challenges to the voluntariness of the plea and the constitutionality of the statute were properly barred from review.
- People v Morrison2026 NY Slip Op 06593
The court affirmed the defendant’s convictions for second-degree murder and related offenses, finding that the weight of the evidence supported the jury’s rejection of the mental disease or defect defense. The court also determined that the trial court did not err in refusing to instruct the jury on justification and that the defendant’s claims of ineffective assistance of counsel were without merit.
- People v Valdes-Pica2026 NY Slip Op 06589
The appellate court affirmed the conviction, determining that the defendant’s valid appeal waiver precluded his challenge to the severity of the enhanced sentence. Additionally, the court found the defendant’s claim that his guilty plea was not knowingly and voluntarily made was unpreserved because he failed to pursue it in a postallocution motion.
- People v Mulverhill2026 NY Slip Op 06588
The court reversed the judgment and ordered a new trial because the trial court improperly denied for-cause challenges to prospective jurors who expressed bias based on the number of charges. The court found that the jurors were not adequately rehabilitated, and the defendant’s exhaustion of peremptory challenges rendered the error reversible.