Syracuse Criminal Law Blog

The recent charging of a prominent celebrity for sexual assault in Pennsylvania stemming from an incident that was claimed to have occurred in 2004 has raised questions regarding the statute of limitations for such a crime, not only in Pennsylvania, but around the country. The statute of limitations for charging a person with a crime is the time within which a prosecutor may charge a person for a crime before

There is some good news this holiday season as the Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, announced that he will pardon thousands of adults who were convicted as young offenders in New York. The opportunity will be available for people who were convicted of non-violent, non-sexual offenses when they were 16 or 17 years of age. The New York State Constitution empowers the governor to grant reprieves, commutations, and pardons to

Sentencing for federal drug crimes has been criticized as being unduly harsh, especially for low level drug offenders. Federal sentencing guidelines have sometimes resulted in seemingly unjust high prison terms for low level non-violent offenders. Changes to the federal sentencing guidelines in 2014 led to the implementation of Amendment 782, commonly referred to as “Drugs Minus Two,”which lowered many drug quantity offense levels by two levels. These sentencing changes apply

In New York, the Office of the Attorney General’s Public Integrity Bureau investigates and pursues criminal charges of public corruption, especially involving fraud, government corruption, and abuse of authority. Depending on the nature of the crime, the Federal Bureau of Investigation can also investigate these charges. There are several state and federal laws under which a public official can be charged in public corruption cases. Often the prosecution charges the

The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution holds that in order to be charged with a capital or “otherwise infamous” crime, a person has to be indicted by a grand jury. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that this Fifth Amendment requirement is not imposed on the states, and a grand jury indictment is not therefore not constitutionally required for a state felony. The New York state constitution, however, mirrors the U.S.