Legal Information Center

A conviction for a New York state felony is very serious and can involve lengthy sentences of probation or even incarceration. However, what many people do not realize is that a felony conviction can also greatly increase the possible sentence a person can receive on a subsequent felony conviction, especially so when the prior conviction…

Today, the attorneys at The Law Office of Matthew Galluzzo successfully obtained a dismissal of all criminal charges for our client, a professional man working at a high-level job in Manhattan. Charged with a misdemeanor sex crime and facing a potential jail sentence, the client was dissatisfied with his representation by an expensive attorney at…

The most serious crimes in New York state law are classified as Class A-I felonies; one of these Class A-I felonies is Murder in the First Degree, Penal Law Section 125.27. The majority of homicides in New York are prosecuted pursuant to Penal Law Section 125.25 (Murder in the Second Degree). However, especially violent and…

First-time offenders arrested for shoplifting at large department stores in New York (such as Sak’s Fifth Avenue, Century 21, Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, or Uniqlo) typically receive Desk Appearance Tickets, or DATS, from the police. (For more on shoplifting and petit larceny arrests, click here and here.). However, many shoplifting defendants also soon receive letters from lawyers…

Many of our clients come to us after being issued Desk Appearance Tickets (“DAT”‘s) charging them with cocaine or other drug possession (the charge is usually “Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Seventh Degree” in violation of Penal Law section 220.03). Most of these clients have just experienced their first arrest and are…

If you’ve been told to appear in court for a summons, Desk Appearance Ticket (“DAT”), or other criminal case, you can face serious consequences should you fail to appear on your scheduled court date. We advise that you retain an experienced criminal defense attorney immediately to help you repair the damage that has already been…

Recently, a video of a fight between a bus driver and a passenger in Cleveland has gone viral and sparked a great deal of debate. To summarize, a passenger on a Cleveland bus captured cell phone footage of a male municipal bus driver in a profane argument with a female passenger that had refused to…

The authors of this blog represent an individual that recently had a significant charge dismissed against her by the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest state appeals court. The case involved a very interesting and complicated question concerning the proper scope of prosecutions pursuant to the Organized Crime Control Act, pursuant to NY Penal Law…

Criminal Contempt charges are very serious and can be quite difficult to defend against in some circumstances. The overwhelming majority of the Criminal Contempt cases pursued by prosecutors involve violations of orders of protection, and usually are classified as “domestic violence,” meaning that the complainant and defendant are or were in some sort of romantic…

If your friend or loved one has just been arrested for a state-level crime in Manhattan, you are unlikely to be able to see him again before his arraignment at 100 Centre Street. Typically, a person arrested for a crime spends a few hours (though this number can vary wildly) at a police precinct while…