NY CRIMINAL DEFENSE
SERVING, BROOKLYN, QUEENS, MANHATTAN, BRONX , STATEN ISLAND, LONG ISLAND & UPSTATE NEW YORK.
NEW YORK CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER | NYC & STATEWIDE
New York prosecutors are among the most aggressive in the country. The five borough District Attorney offices — Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island — each operate with substantial resources, experienced ADAs, and a track record of pursuing serious charges with full institutional commitment. The courts move fast. Deadlines under the Criminal Procedure Law are strict and unforgiving. And the consequences of a New York conviction — particularly a felony — follow you for the rest of your life: mandatory minimum sentences, mandatory surcharges, loss of civil rights, immigration consequences, and a permanent criminal record that appears in every background check and employment application you ever submit. Whether you are facing a misdemeanor in New York City Criminal Court or a violent felony in New York State Supreme Court, you need an attorney who knows the New York system from the inside — the courts, the prosecutors, the motion practice, and the trial strategy that produces real results. Attorney Eon Smith brings federal court discipline to every New York state case: aggressive pretrial motions, thorough investigation, rigorous witness preparation, and a defense strategy built around the specific facts of your case. From the moment of arrest through verdict and beyond, Smith & Company fights for the best possible outcome for every client.
HOW THE NEW YORK CRIMINAL COURT SYSTEM WORKS
New York City Criminal Court handles misdemeanors, violations, and the initial arraignment of felony arrests. For most New York City defendants, this is the first court they appear in after arrest. Arraignment in Criminal Court is where bail is initially set (or not), where the first charges are formally read, and where the first critical decisions of the case — including the bail application — are made. Smith & Company prepares for Criminal Court arraignments with full factual development, ready to argue for release on recognizance or favorable bail conditions from the first appearance. New York State Supreme Court is — despite its name — a trial court, not an appellate court. In New York's unusual court structure, the Supreme Court is the felony trial court where indicted defendants are prosecuted and tried by jury. Supreme Court judges are elected, and they handle the most serious criminal cases in the state. After a felony arrest in New York City, the case moves from Criminal Court to Supreme Court once a grand jury votes an indictment — and it is in Supreme Court that the real defense work of motions, hearings, and trial unfolds. Each of the five borough DA offices operates with its own culture, its own policies, and its own institutional tendencies. Manhattan (New York County DA) prosecutes some of the most high-profile cases in the country and has a large, specialized staff. Brooklyn (Kings County DA) handles a high volume of serious felony cases. Queens (Queens County DA) and The Bronx (Bronx County DA) each have their own prosecutorial personalities and local practices. Staten Island (Richmond County DA) operates differently from the larger borough offices. Smith & Company's regular practice in all five borough courts means we understand these institutional differences and tailor our strategy accordingly. The path from arrest to resolution in New York follows a defined sequence: arraignment (in Criminal Court for arrests, often within 24 hours), bail application, preliminary hearing (for felony arrests without grand jury), grand jury presentation, indictment, Supreme Court arraignment, motion practice, pre-trial hearings, and ultimately trial or plea. Each stage has deadlines, strategic opportunities, and rights that must be preserved. Missing a deadline — particularly under CPL § 30.30 speedy trial provisions — can result in dismissal. Failing to file the right motion at the right stage can waive critical defenses. Smith & Company navigates every step with precision.
NEW YORK FELONY CLASSIFICATIONS AND SENTENCES
Felony Class
Maximum Sentence
Examples
Class A-I Felony
Life in prison
Murder 1st degree, major drug trafficking (Class A-I weight)
Class A-II Felony
3 years to life
Major controlled substance possession (Class A-II weight)
Class B Felony
Up to 25 years
Robbery 1st degree, Rape 1st degree, Assault 1st degree
Class C Felony
Up to 15 years
Assault 1st degree (some), Burglary 2nd degree
Class D Felony
Up to 7 years
Assault 2nd degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon 3rd degree
Class E Felony
Up to 4 years
Grand Larceny 4th degree, Criminal Mischief 2nd degree
Important: Violent felony offenses carry mandatory minimum prison sentences and are ineligible for a sentence of probation or a conditional discharge — regardless of the defendant's background or the judge's discretion.
CRIMINAL CHARGES WE DEFEND IN NEW YORK
DRUG POSSESSION AND SALE (NY PENAL LAW ARTICLE 220)
New York drug charges range from a Class B misdemeanor for small-quantity marijuana possession to Class A-I felony charges for large-scale heroin, cocaine, or fentanyl trafficking — with maximum sentences of life in prison at the top of the scale. The quantity possessed or sold determines the degree of the charge, and quantity disputes are often central to the defense. We challenge the sufficiency of the evidence, the legality of the search that produced the drugs, the reliability of any informant involved, and the quantity attributed to our client.
ASSAULT AND VIOLENT CRIMES (ARTICLE 120)
New York assault charges range from third-degree assault — a misdemeanor requiring only physical injury — through first-degree assault and attempted murder, both serious felonies with mandatory minimum sentences. Gang assault charges, which elevate the offense level based on the number of participants, are prosecuted aggressively by all five borough DA offices. We investigate every assault case thoroughly — examining surveillance footage, witness accounts, medical evidence, and the history between the parties — to build the most effective defense available.
DWI AND DWAI (VEHICLE AND TRAFFIC LAW § 1192)
A New York DWI conviction carries criminal penalties — up to one year in jail for a first offense — and simultaneous DMV consequences including license revocation, ignition interlock requirements, and mandatory insurance surcharges. These two tracks must be defended simultaneously and on different timelines. Smith & Company handles both the criminal defense and the DMV proceeding from the moment of retention, ensuring that no deadline is missed and no opportunity for defense is overlooked.
CRIMINAL POSSESSION OF A WEAPON (ARTICLE 265)
New York is one of the strictest jurisdictions in the country for weapons charges. Even possession of an unloaded firearm outside the home or business — without any intent to use it — is classified as a violent felony offense under New York law, carrying mandatory minimum sentences and eliminating the possibility of probation. The Fourth Amendment suppression motion is the most powerful tool in CPW defense — if the weapon was discovered in an unlawful search or stop, it must be suppressed, and the case is over.
THEFT, BURGLARY, AND ROBBERY (ARTICLES 155, 140, 160)
New York theft offenses range from petit larceny — a misdemeanor for property worth less than $1,000 — to grand larceny in the first degree, a Class B felony for theft exceeding $1 million. Burglary and robbery charges carry significant mandatory minimums when classified as violent felonies, and they are prosecuted seriously across all jurisdictions. We challenge the evidence of identity, intent, and the value of alleged stolen property in every case.
WHITE-COLLAR CRIMES
New York state white-collar charges include grand larceny (theft by fraud), scheme to defraud (PL §§ 190.60, 190.65), identity theft, forgery, securities fraud under the Martin Act, and computer trespass. The Manhattan DA's office has a dedicated Cybercrime and Identity Theft Bureau and a Financial Frauds Bureau that prosecutes these cases with federal-level sophistication. Smith & Company defends New York white-collar charges with the same depth of preparation we bring to federal fraud cases.
NEW YORK CRIMINAL DEFENSE STRATEGY
Motion practice under CPL Article 710 is one of the most powerful tools in the New York criminal defense arsenal. Suppression motions — challenging the legality of the police conduct that produced physical evidence, statements, or identification evidence — can end a case before it reaches trial. A successful motion to suppress a defendant's statement, based on a Miranda violation or an involuntary confession, eliminates what is often the government's most powerful proof. A successful motion to suppress physical evidence — drugs, weapons, contraband — based on an unlawful stop or search eliminates the proof of the charged act itself. Smith & Company files suppression motions in every case where the constitutional record supports one, and we litigate them aggressively through the Mapp/Dunaway hearing process. Speedy trial motions under CPL § 30.30 are another uniquely powerful tool in New York state practice. New York imposes strict deadlines on the prosecution — 90 days for a misdemeanor, 6 months for a felony — within which the prosecution must declare readiness for trial. Chargeable time is counted with precision, and the prosecution's failure to meet the deadline results in mandatory dismissal of the charges. Smith & Company tracks speedy trial time with meticulous attention from the day of arraignment, because a dismissal on speedy trial grounds is a complete victory — achieved without a trial. The decision of whether to accept a plea offer or proceed to trial is the most consequential choice any criminal defendant makes — and it is a choice that belongs to the client, not the attorney. At Smith & Company, we give our clients everything they need to make this decision with clear eyes: a frank assessment of the strength of the government's evidence, the realistic likelihood of conviction at trial, the specific terms of any plea offer and what it means for sentencing, the immigration consequences of a plea versus a trial outcome, and the intangible factors — the strength of the defense witnesses, the expected composition of the jury, the judge's sentencing tendencies — that experienced trial attorneys develop an intuition for over years of practice. We recommend what we believe is in our client's best interest, and we respect that the final decision is always theirs.
WHY SMITH & COMPANY FOR NEW YORK DEFENSE
Attorney Eon Smith is admitted to the New York State Bar and appears regularly in courts across all five New York City boroughs, Long Island, Westchester, and statewide. He brings to New York state practice the same strategic discipline, motion practice intensity, and trial preparation thoroughness that federal court demands — because his clients deserve nothing less, regardless of which courthouse their case is in. From the arraignment hearing through the verdict, Smith & Company is committed to the most aggressive, most thorough, and most effective defense the facts of the case support.
When you retain Smith & Company for a New York criminal case, you retain a lawyer who has appeared in the same courtrooms where your case will be decided, who knows the prosecutors you will face, and who has litigated the same legal issues your defense will require. That institutional knowledge translates directly into better defense outcomes — because experience in the jurisdiction is not a luxury. In criminal defense, it is a necessity.
Charged in New York? Call Smith & Company now. Your consultation is free, confidential, and available 24 hours a day.
DWI DEFENSE LAWYER | NEW YORK | CRIMINAL & DMV LICENSE DEFENSE
A New York DWI arrest is not a single legal problem — it is two separate, simultaneous legal proceedings, each with its own deadlines, its own rules, and its own consequences. In criminal court, you face charges under the Vehicle and Traffic Law that can result in jail time, probation, fines, mandatory surcharges, and a criminal record. Before the Department of Motor Vehicles, you face a separate administrative proceeding that can revoke your license for months or years. Both must be fought. Both have deadlines. Ignoring either one — focusing exclusively on the criminal case and assuming the DMV hearing will handle itself, or vice versa — is a mistake that clients pay for with their driving privilege, their career, and sometimes their freedom. At Smith & Company, we fight both proceedings simultaneously from day one.
NEW YORK DWI AND DWAI CHARGES
Charge
Statute
BAC / Basis
Classification
DWAI
VTL § 1192.1
.05–.07 BAC, or impaired to any extent
Traffic infraction — not a crime, but carries penalties
DWI
VTL § 1192.2
.08 BAC or higher
Class A misdemeanor (1st offense)
Aggravated DWI
VTL § 1192.2-a
.18 BAC or higher
More severe penalties than standard DWI
Felony DWI (2nd)
VTL § 1192.2
2nd offense within 10 years
Class E felony
Felony DWI (3rd+)
VTL § 1192.2
3rd offense
Class D felony
DWI — Child Passenger (Leandra's Law)
VTL § 1192.2-a(b)
Any DWI with child under 16 in vehicle
Class E felony (1st offense)
DWAI — Drugs
VTL § 1192.4
Impairment by any drug
Class A misdemeanor
PENALTIES FOR A FIRST-OFFENSE DWI IN NEW YORK
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Jail: Up to 1 year in jail — most first offenders receive a conditional discharge or probation, but jail is possible and judges do impose it.
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Fine: $500 to $1,000 (not including mandatory surcharges, which add hundreds of dollars to the base fine).
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License: Minimum 6-month revocation — you lose your license entirely, not just a suspension. You must reapply for a new license after the revocation period.
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Ignition Interlock Device (IID): Mandatory for at least 12 months following any DWI conviction — you must use it in every vehicle you own or operate.
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Insurance: A DWI conviction typically causes insurance premiums to increase dramatically — often doubling or tripling — and can result in cancellation of coverage.
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Professional consequences: A DWI conviction can affect professional licenses, security clearances, CDL holders, and immigration status — consequences that the criminal sentence does not capture and that must be considered in every defense strategy.
THE DMV REFUSAL HEARING — ACT WITHIN 15 DAYS
If you refused a chemical test (breath, blood, or urine) after your DWI arrest, the consequences are automatic and severe — unless you act immediately. New York's implied consent law provides that any person operating a motor vehicle on New York roads has implicitly consented to chemical testing, and a refusal triggers an automatic DMV administrative proceeding. The DMV will schedule a hearing to determine whether your license should be revoked for a minimum of one year. You have exactly 15 days from the date of your arraignment to request this hearing — and if you miss that deadline, the revocation is automatic and cannot be challenged. Smith & Company files the DMV hearing request immediately upon retention — we do not wait to see how the criminal case develops. The DMV refusal hearing is an independent proceeding with its own standards, its own procedural rules, and its own cross-examination opportunities. We attend the hearing and challenge the legal sufficiency of the refusal — whether you were properly warned about the consequences of refusal, whether the arresting officer had lawful grounds to request the test in the first place, and whether the procedural requirements for the refusal were properly observed. Winning the DMV hearing means your license is preserved, regardless of the outcome of the criminal case.
In cases where no refusal occurred, a DWI arrest still triggers an automatic 30-day administrative suspension of your license from the date of arraignment while the case is pending. Smith & Company appears at arraignment prepared to argue against the administrative suspension and, where applicable, to seek a conditional license that allows our clients to drive to and from work during the pendency of the case.
HOW WE FIGHT YOUR NEW YORK DWI
CHALLENGING THE TRAFFIC STOP
Every DWI prosecution begins with a police encounter — a traffic stop, a sobriety checkpoint, or a community caretaking stop — and that encounter must be constitutionally justified by reasonable suspicion that a traffic violation or crime was occurring. If the officer who stopped your vehicle lacked a lawful basis to do so, the stop was unlawful — and under the Fourth Amendment, all evidence obtained as a result of the unlawful stop must be suppressed. Without the observations of intoxication, without the field sobriety tests, without the breath test results, the prosecution cannot sustain a DWI charge. The traffic stop is always the first line of DWI defense analysis.
FIELD SOBRIETY TESTS
The three National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) standardized field sobriety tests — the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) test, the Walk-and-Turn test, and the One-Leg Stand test — are presented by prosecutors as scientifically validated indicators of intoxication. In reality, their validity depends entirely on strict adherence to NHTSA-mandated administration procedures, and the HGN test in particular requires specific training and proper execution that many officers lack. Smith & Company cross-examines officers on every element of field sobriety test administration — the lighting conditions, the surface, the instructions given, the officer's positioning, and the specific observations recorded — to expose the limitations and unreliability of their intoxication conclusions.
BREATHALYZER CALIBRATION AND CERTIFICATION
New York DWI cases typically rely on the Datamaster DMT breath testing instrument, which must be properly calibrated, regularly inspected, and operated only by officers with current, documented certification. We subpoena maintenance records, calibration logs, and operator certification records for every breath test case. Technical violations — an instrument outside of tolerance, an expired operator certification, a failure to observe the required 20-minute waiting period before testing — can form the basis for suppression of the breath test result. Without a scientifically valid breath test, the prosecution's case becomes dramatically more difficult to sustain.
RISING BLOOD ALCOHOL DEFENSE
Blood alcohol concentration rises over time following alcohol consumption — it does not peak at the moment of the last drink, but continues to increase as alcohol is absorbed from the stomach and small intestine into the bloodstream. In cases where our client consumed alcohol in the hour or two before driving, their BAC at the time of the breath test — which may have been administered 30, 45, or 60 minutes after the stop — may have been significantly higher than their BAC at the time they were actually operating the vehicle. The legal standard is BAC while driving, not BAC at the time of testing. Smith & Company presents the rising blood alcohol defense with expert toxicological testimony to establish reasonable doubt about the defendant's BAC at the relevant time.
BLOOD TEST CHAIN OF CUSTODY
When blood is drawn for BAC testing — whether voluntarily or pursuant to a warrant — the integrity of the sample from the moment of collection through analysis is critical to the reliability of the result. Every transfer, every handoff, every storage condition, and every analytical procedure must be documented in an unbroken chain of custody. A break in that chain — a missing transfer log, an improperly stored sample, an unaccounted-for period — undermines the reliability of the blood test result and creates reasonable doubt about whether the sample analyzed by the lab was the same sample drawn from our client.
A New York DWI has criminal and license consequences that require immediate action. Call Smith & Company now — we handle both the criminal case and the DMV hearing simultaneously.
NEW YORK WEAPONS CHARGES LAWYER | CRIMINAL POSSESSION OF A WEAPON | SMITH & COMPANY
New York has some of the strictest gun laws in the United States. In New York, Criminal Possession of a Weapon (CPW) is not treated as a property offense or a public safety regulation — it is treated as a violent crime. Even possession of an unloaded firearm outside your home or business — with no act of violence, no threats, no criminal purpose — is classified as a violent felony offense under New York Penal Law. That classification carries mandatory minimum prison sentences, eliminates the possibility of a plea to probation or a conditional discharge, and results in a permanent violent felony record that follows the convicted person for the rest of their life. The stakes in a CPW case are as high as any case Smith & Company handles — and the defense begins the moment you call us.
NEW YORK CPW CHARGES — THE FOUR DEGREES
Charge
Statute
Classification
Sentence Range
CPW 4th Degree
PL § 265.01
Class A Misdemeanor
Up to 1 year in jail. Possessing a firearm without a license, or possessing certain dangerous weapons (knives, gravity knives).
CPW 3rd Degree
PL § 265.02
Class D Violent Felony
Mandatory 2 to 7 years. Possessing a loaded firearm outside the home or business without a license.
CPW 2nd Degree
PL § 265.03
Class C Violent Felony
Mandatory 3.5 to 15 years. Loaded firearm outside home/business with intent to use unlawfully against another.
CPW 1st Degree
PL § 265.04
Class B Violent Felony
Mandatory 5 to 25 years. Possessing a machine gun or ten or more firearms.
WHY CPW IS CHARGED AS A VIOLENT FELONY
New York's decision to classify loaded firearm possession as a violent felony offense — regardless of whether any violent act occurred or was intended — reflects the legislature's judgment that illegal firearm possession itself creates an inherent risk of violence. The practical consequences of this classification are categorical and severe. Violent felony offenses in New York carry mandatory minimum sentences: a defendant convicted of CPW 3rd degree cannot be sentenced to less than two years in prison, regardless of their background, criminal history, or the judge's view of the appropriate sentence. They are ineligible for a sentence of probation or a conditional discharge. They are excluded from alternative sentencing programs that would otherwise be available to first-time offenders. And the violent felony conviction itself triggers collateral consequences — including restrictions on professional licensing, effects on any pending immigration case, and inclusion in state databases — that persist long after the sentence is served. This is why CPW defense requires the most aggressive and most skilled legal representation available from the moment of arrest.
SUPPRESSION — THE MOST POWERFUL DEFENSE TOOL
The vast majority of New York CPW cases arise from a police stop — a traffic stop, a Terry stop on the street, a search of a vehicle, or a search incident to arrest. Each of these encounters is governed by specific constitutional rules that law enforcement must follow, and violations of those rules trigger the exclusionary rule: evidence obtained through an unlawful stop or search must be suppressed and cannot be used against the defendant at trial. In a CPW case, suppression of the firearm is not just a partial victory — it is the end of the case. Without the weapon, the People cannot prove possession of a weapon. Without that proof, there is no conviction. The Fourth Amendment suppression motion is, in the right case, a complete defense.
New York City has a documented history of illegal stop-and-frisk practices that led to the landmark federal civil rights ruling in Floyd v. City of New York (2013), in which the court found that the NYPD had engaged in a pattern and practice of unconstitutional stops targeting Black and Latino men. While the NYPD has made structural changes following Floyd, unconstitutional stops and searches continue to occur — and New York courts remain appropriately skeptical of law enforcement justifications for street stops in gun cases. Smith & Company scrutinizes every CPW stop with this history and legal landscape in mind, filing suppression motions wherever the constitutional record supports one and litigating them through full Mapp/Dunaway hearings.
We do not evaluate suppression motions optimistically. We evaluate them honestly — examining every document, every police report, every body camera recording, and every piece of evidence related to the stop and search, then making a rigorous legal judgment about the strength of the motion. When the motion is strong, we file it, litigate it, and win it. When the stop appears to have been lawful, we tell our clients that clearly and pivot to the next best defense strategy. Our clients deserve both our best advocacy and our honest assessment — and we provide both.
CONSTRUCTIVE POSSESSION DEFENSE
When a firearm is found in a vehicle with multiple occupants, or in a home or apartment shared by roommates or family members, every person in proximity to the weapon may be charged. But the law does not allow the prosecution to simply charge everyone in the room — it requires proof, beyond a reasonable doubt, that each defendant actually possessed the weapon. Constructive possession requires proof that the defendant knew the weapon was present and had the ability and intent to exercise dominion and control over it. Proximity alone is not enough. Co-location is not enough. The government must connect the specific defendant — not the group, not the household — to the specific weapon.
Smith & Company challenges constructive possession aggressively and with forensic precision. We seek all available physical evidence: fingerprint analysis results (or the absence thereof), DNA analysis, the exact location of the weapon and its relationship to each occupant's personal space, text messages and social media posts that may show knowledge or access to the weapon, witness statements about who placed the weapon in the location where it was found, and any other evidence that establishes — or undermines — the connection between our specific client and the charged firearm. Constructive possession cases are won or lost on the details, and Smith & Company goes to the details.
A CPW conviction in New York means a violent felony record and mandatory prison time. Call Smith & Company immediately.