BILL NUMBER:  S164

 TITLE OF BILL :
An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to misdemeanor
complaints


 SUMMARY :
The proposed amendments to CPL §170.70 would make the statute parallel
to its counterpart, Section 180.80. The changes would require the
release from jail of any defendant charged with misdemeanors when the
misdemeanor complaint has not been replaced with a legally sufficient
misdemeanor information within 120 or 144 hours of the defendant's
arrest. The changes proposed in the bill are to commence the time
period defined in the statute with the arrest rather than the
arraignment and to measure the time period in hours, not days.

 JUSTIFICATION :
There is no rational basis for measuring the applicable time limits
for Sections 180.80 and 170.70 differently.  The Legislature amended
Section 180.80 in 1981, the point at which time started to run was
changed from the time of arraignment to the time of arrest. No similar
alteration was made for Section 170.70, apparently because of a simple
oversight. There is certainly no legislative history which Supports a
distinction between how these two statutes define the commencement of
the applicable time period.  The current statutes with misdemeanors
              

are for a longer period.

The current statutes resulting in the anomaly of incarcerating many
defendants charged only with misdemeanors for a longer period than
would be legally permitted if they had been charged with felonies.
For example, consider two defendants arrested at 5:00 p.m. on March 3.
One is charged with a felony; the other with a misdemeanor.  Because
of a backlog in the criminal justice system, neither defendant is
arraigned in court until March 6. The defendant charged with a felony,
however, can be held in jail until March 9, unless he is indicted or
has a preliminary hearing or obtain an indictment. In the case of
misdemeanor complaint, no witness need appear in court - all that is
required is that a witness sign an affidavit attesting to the truth is
required is that a witness sign an affidavit attesting to the truth of
the matters alleged in the complaint. Upon filing the affidavit, the
complaint is deemed converted into an information.  Finally, the
proposed changes do seek to shorten the time period applicable to
equivalent to the 120 hour period proposed in the amendments. Indeed,
misdemeanors to the extent that they add 24 more hours for Saturdays
and legal holidays, events which under the current language of Section
170.70 do not extend the time. In any event, 120 to 144 hours are
required to obtain corroboration of the charges and present it to the
court and the defendant.  No undo hardship is placed on the
prosecution by changing the measurement from day to hours.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :
Some savings to counties and cities responsible for paying for the
costs of incarceration.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
Immediately.