Terms Used In New York Laws > Criminal Procedure > Part 2 > Title J - Prosecution of Indictments In Superior Courts--plea to Sentence

• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Amount: shall include , but is not limited to, any dividend, profit or other distribution, whether in cash or securities, and any interest or other payment on or of principal, including the cash value of any security which has matured or has been called for full or partial redemption or is payable to security owners or former security owners entitled to payments as the result of a merger, consolidation, acquisition or conversion of any type. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 500
• Amount: shall mean that term as defined in subdivision seven of section five hundred of this chapter. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 510
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• applicant: includes that person designated to act for him and perform his official function in and during his actual absence or disability. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Applicant: means a district attorney, an assistant district attorney, and when empowered by law to conduct an investigation of or to prosecute or participate in the prosecution of a designated crime, the attorney general, an assistant attorney general, the deputy attorney general in charge of the statewide organized crime task force, or an assistant deputy attorney general of such task force. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 705.00
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arraignment: A proceeding in which an individual who is accused of committing a crime is brought into court, told of the charges, and asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• auction: means a public sale of cattle, swine or horses to the highest bidder. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 90-B
• auctioneer: means a person who sells, or makes a business of selling cattle, swine or horses, at auction. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 90-B
• Autographed: means bearing the actual signature of a sports personality, signed by such individual's own hand. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 60.01
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• board: means "board of directors". See N.Y. Banking Law 1001
• Broker: shall include any individual or corporation engaging in the purchase, sale or exchange of securities for or on behalf of any customer. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 510
• camelid: means the entire family of camelidae. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 90-B
• cattle: means the entire family of bovidae. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 90-B
• Charge to the jury: The judge's instructions to the jury concerning the law that applies to the facts of the case on trial.
• Collectible: means an autographed sports item including, but not limited to, a photograph, book, ticket, plaque, sports program, trading card, item of sports equipment or clothing, or other sports memorabilia sold or offered for sale in or from this state by a dealer to a consumer for twenty-five dollars or more. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 60.01
• communication: includes conversation and discussion. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Consumer: means any natural person who purchases an autographed sports collectible from a dealer for personal, family or household purposes. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 60.01
• contents: when used with respect to a communication, includes any information concerning the identity of the parties to such communications, and the existence, substance, purport, or meaning of that communication. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Corporation: shall mean any corporation (other than a public corporation as defined in paragraph (b) of this subdivision), joint stock company, association of two or more individuals, committee, partnership, investment company (as defined by, and which is registered under, an act of Congress of the United States entitled the "Investment Company Act of 1940" as amended), unit investment trust or business trust, whether or not for profit. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 500
• Corporation: shall include any joint stock company, corporation, association of two or more individuals, committee, public authority, or business trust. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 510
• Corporation: means and includes all banks, trust companies, safe deposit companies, investment companies, mutual trust investment companies, and, to the extent not provided otherwise under any regulation of the superintendent of financial services promulgated pursuant to the provisions of section fourteen-e of this chapter, stock-form savings banks and stock-form savings and loan associations. See N.Y. Banking Law 1001
• Customer: shall include any individual or corporation entering into a contract with a broker or dealer by which such broker or dealer agrees to effect the purchase, sale, or exchange, or to keep custody of any security for or on behalf of such individual or corporation. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 510
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Dealer: shall include any individual or corporation engaging in any state as a regular business in the purchase, sale or exchange of securities for his or its own account, through a broker or otherwise. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 510
• dealer: includes an auctioneer who sells such collectibles at public auction, and includes persons who are consignors or principals of auctioneers. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 60.01
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• deer: means any member of the family of cervidae. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 90-B
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Defendant: means a person who has been charged by an accusatory instrument with the commission of an offense. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 710.10
• Description: means any representation in writing, including but not limited to a representation contained in an advertisement, invoice, catalog, flyer, sign, brochure, or other commercial or promotional material. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 60.01
• Designated crime: means any crime included within the definition of a "designated offense" in subdivision eight of section 700. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 705.00
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means any member of the governing board of a corporation, whether designated as director, trustee, manager, governor, or by any other title. See N.Y. Banking Law 1001
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Disposition: means the disposal of a record by destruction, sale, gift, transfer to the local government archives, or by other authorized means. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 57.17
• ear tag: means a unique, tamper-resistant device which, when affixed to the ears of cattle, deer, swine or camelid, identifies and distinguishes such animals. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 90-B
• Eavesdropping: means "wiretapping" "mechanical overhearing of conversation" or the "intercepting or accessing of an electronic communication" as those terms are defined in § 250. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Eavesdropping: means "wiretapping" "mechanical overhearing of a conversation" or "intercepting or accessing of an electronic communication" as those terms are defined in § 250. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 710.10
• Eavesdropping warrant: means an order of a justice authorizing or approving eavesdropping. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. ^{Source: OCC}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiduciary: shall mean any individual or any domestic or foreign corporation holding a security for a resident or receiving, as agent of a corporation or as holder of a security, any amount due or to become due a resident as the holder or owner of a security but shall not mean any individual or corporation so acting by direction of a court in any case where such court has not directed a distribution of such amount or security. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 500
• Foreign corporation: shall mean any corporation organized under the laws of a state other than New York or under the laws of a foreign country and doing business in this state or authorized to do business in this state, but shall not mean a banking organization as defined in this chapter. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 500
• Foreign corporation: means a corporation which is licensed by the superintendent under the provisions of article two of this chapter to do business in this state or is applying for such license and a corporation authorized to conduct business in this state pursuant to article five-C of this chapter or is applying for such authorization. See N.Y. Banking Law 1001
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Governing body: means the town board, village board of trustees, city council, county legislature or board of supervisors, board of education or board of trustees of a school district or board of cooperative educational services, board of fire commissioners or other body authorized by law to govern the affairs of a local government. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 57.17
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• horse: means the entire family of equidae. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 90-B
• Impeachment: (1) The process of calling something into question, as in "impeaching the testimony of a witness." (2) The constitutional process whereby the House of Representatives may "impeach" (accuse of misconduct) high officers of the federal government for trial in the Senate.
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
• Intercepted communication: means (a) a telephonic or telegraphic communication which was intentionally overheard or recorded by a person other than the sender or receiver thereof, without the consent of the sender or receiver, by means of any instrument, device or equipment, or (b) a conversation or discussion which was intentionally overheard or recorded, without the consent of at least one party thereto, by a person not present thereat, by means of any instrument, device or equipment; or (c) an electronic communication which was intentionally intercepted or accessed, as that term is defined in § 250. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Juror: A person who is on the jury.
• Justice: except as otherwise provided herein, means any justice of an appellate division of the judicial department in which the eavesdropping warrant is to be executed, or any justice of the supreme court of the judicial district in which the eavesdropping warrant is to be executed, or any county court judge of the county in which the eavesdropping warrant is to be executed. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Justice: means justice as defined in subdivision four of section 700. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 705.00
• Law enforcement agency: means any agency which is empowered by law to conduct an investigation or to make an arrest for a felony, and any agency which is authorized by law to prosecute or participate in the prosecution of a felony. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 705.00
• Law enforcement officer: means any public servant who is empowered by law to conduct an investigation of or to make an arrest for a designated offense, and any attorney authorized by law to prosecute or participate in the prosecution of a designated offense. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Legacy: A gift of property made by will.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• live poultry market: means any premises where poultry are assembled and held for sale and slaughter. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 90-B
• Local government: means any county, city, town, village, school district, board of cooperative educational services, district corporation, public benefit corporation, public corporation, or other government created under state law that is not a state department, division, board, bureau, commission or other agency, heretofore or hereafter established by law. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 57.17
• Local officer: shall mean and include a local officer as defined in § 2 of the public officers law and any officer of a public benefit corporation. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 57.17
• Mistrial: An invalid trial, caused by fundamental error. When a mistrial is declared, the trial must start again from the selection of the jury.
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Office: means in the case of a bank or trust company its principal office, in the case of a safe deposit company, investment company or mutual trust investment company, its principal place of business and in the case of a foreign corporation the place of business designated in its license or its authorization pursuant to article five-C of this chapter, as the case may be, for the oldest agency or branch in this state of such foreign corporation. See N.Y. Banking Law 1001
• official backtag: means a unique device which, when affixed to cattle, deer, swine or camelid, identifies and distinguishes such animals. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 90-B
• Organization certificate: includes (a) the original organization certificate or any other instrument filed or issued under any statute to form a corporation or foreign corporation, as amended, supplemented or restated by certificates of amendment, merger or consolidation or other certificates or instruments filed or issued under any statute; or (b) a special act or charter creating a corporation or foreign corporation, as amended, supplemented or restated by special acts or by certificates of amendment, merger or consolidation or other certificates or instruments filed or issued under any statute. See N.Y. Banking Law 1001
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Pen register: means a device which records or decodes electronic or other impulses which identify the numbers dialed or otherwise transmitted on the telephone line to which such device is attached, but such term does not include any device used by a provider or customer of a wire or electronic communication service for billing, or recording as an incident to billing, for communications services provided by such provider or any device used by a provider or customer of a wire communication service for cost accounting or other like purposes in the ordinary course of its business. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 705.00
• Person: means any natural person, partnership, corporation, company, trust, association or other entity, however organized. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 60.01
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Potential testimony: means information or factual knowledge of a person who is or may be available as a witness. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 710.10
• poultry: means a domesticated fowl including chickens, turkeys, waterfowl, guinea fowl and game birds commonly used for the production of meat and eggs. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 90-B
• poultry dealer: means any person who buys or sells poultry as a business enterprise. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 90-B
• poultry transporter: means any person who transports poultry as a business enterprise. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 90-B
• Pre-trial motion: as used in this article means any motion by a defendant which seeks an order of the court:
  
  (a) dismissing or reducing an indictment pursuant to article 210 or removing an action to the family court pursuant to article 722; or
  
  (b) dismissing an information, prosecutor's information, simplified information or misdemeanor complaint pursuant to article 170; or
  
  (c) granting discovery pursuant to article 245; or
  
  (d) granting a bill of particulars pursuant to sections 100. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 255.10
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Pro se: A Latin term meaning "on one's own behalf"; in courts, it refers to persons who present their own cases without lawyers.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Property: includes , but is not limited to, money, rights to claim refunds or rebates, postal savings deposits, bonds, notes, certificates, policies of insurance, other instruments of value, choses in action, obligations whether written or unwritten, and any thing of value of any nature whatsoever. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 1214
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public corporation: shall mean any state and a public corporation as defined in § 66 of the general construction law, but shall not mean an agency or political subdivision of the United States or of a foreign nation. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 500
• Public issuer: shall include the United States, the several states and territories thereof, political subdivisions and municipal corporations within such states and territories, foreign countries and political subdivisions and municipal corporations within such foreign countries. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 510
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Record: means any book, paper, map, photograph, or other information-recording device, regardless of physical form or characteristic, that is made, produced, executed, or received by any local government or officer thereof pursuant to law or in connection with the transaction of public business. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 57.17
• Records retention and disposition schedule: means a list or other instrument describing records and their retention periods which is issued by the commissioner of education. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 57.17
• registration number: means the number assigned to and that identifies a particular domestic animal, which number and the identifying characteristics of such domestic animal are set forth in a registry maintained by a breed association recognized by the department. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 90-B
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Retention period: means the minimum length of time that must elapse before a record is eligible for disposition. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 57.17
• Security: shall mean :
  
  (a) Any instrument issued by a corporation or public corporation or any entry on the books and records of such corporation or public corporation evidencing an obligation to make any payment of the principal amount of a debt or of any increment due or to become due thereon; or
  
  (b) Any instrument issued by a corporation to evidence a proprietary interest therein or any intangible interest in a corporation as evidenced by the books and records of the corporation except:
  
  (i) A policy of insurance issued by a mutual insurance corporation, or
  
  (ii) A share issued by a savings and loan association, a building and loan association, or a credit union. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 500
• Security: shall include :
  
  (a) Any instrument issued by a corporation or public issuer to evidence an obligation to make any payment of the principal amount of a debt or of any increment due or to become due thereon, or
  
  (b) Any instrument issued by a corporation to evidence a proprietary interest therein except:
  
  (i) A policy of insurance issued by a mutual insurance corporation, or
  
  (ii) A share issued by a savings and loan association, a building and loan association, or a credit union. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 510
• sheep: means any member of the genus ovis. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 90-B
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Supplier: means any person who provides collectibles to a dealer specifically for the purposes of re-sale. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 60.01
• swine: means the entire super family of suidoidae, both feral and domestic. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 90-B
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trap and trace device: means a device which captures the incoming electronic or other impulses which identify the originating number of an instrument or device from which a wire or electronic communication was transmitted. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 705.00
• Treasury shares: means shares which have been issued, have been subsequently acquired, and are retained uncancelled by the corporation. See N.Y. Banking Law 1001
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trial jury: A group of citizens who hear the evidence presented by both sides at trial and determine the facts in dispute. Federal criminal juries consist of 12 persons. Federal civil juries consist of six persons.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• United States: means any officer, agency, department or instrumentality of the United States of America, other than a court, and any corporation organized under its laws. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 1214
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Video surveillance: means the intentional visual observation by law enforcement of a person by means of a television camera or other electronic device that is part of a television transmitting apparatus, whether or not such observation is recorded on film or video tape, without the consent of that person or another person thereat and under circumstances in which such observation in the absence of a video surveillance warrant infringes upon such person's reasonable expectation of privacy under the constitution of this state or of the United States. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Video surveillance: has the meaning given to that term by section 700. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 710.10
• Video surveillance warrant: means an order of a justice authorizing or approving video surveillance. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Wages: shall include moneys payable, under contract or otherwise, for services rendered to a broker or dealer, less lawful deductions. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 510