Legislation

Search OpenLegislation Statutes

This entry was published on 2014-09-22
The selection dates indicate all change milestones for the entire volume, not just the location being viewed. Specifying a milestone date will retrieve the most recent version of the location before that date.
SECTION 340.1
Time of fact-finding hearing
Family Court Act (FCT) CHAPTER 686, ARTICLE 3, PART 4
§ 340.1. Time of fact-finding hearing. 1. If the respondent is in
detention and the highest count in the petition charges the commission
of a class A, B, or C felony, the fact-finding hearing shall commence
not more than fourteen days after the conclusion of the initial
appearance except as provided in subdivision four. If the respondent is
in detention and the highest count in such petition is less than a class
C felony the fact-finding hearing shall commence no more than three days
after the conclusion of the initial appearance except as provided in
subdivision four.

2. If the respondent is not in detention the fact-finding hearing
shall commence not more than sixty days after the conclusion of the
initial appearance except as provided in subdivision four.

3. For the purposes of this section, in any case where a proceeding
has been removed to the family court pursuant to an order issued
pursuant to section 725.05 of the criminal procedure law, the date
specified in such order for the defendant's appearance in the family
court shall constitute the date of the initial appearance.

4. The court may adjourn a fact-finding hearing:

(a) on its own motion or on motion of the presentment agency for good
cause shown for not more than three days if the respondent is in
detention and not more than thirty days if the respondent is not in
detention; provided, however, that if there is probable cause to believe
the respondent committed a homicide or a crime which resulted in a
person being incapacitated from attending court, the court may adjourn
the hearing for a reasonable length of time; or

(b) on motion by the respondent for good cause shown for not more than
thirty days; or

(c) on its own motion for not more than six months if the proceeding
has been adjourned in contemplation of dismissal pursuant to section
315.3.

5. The court shall state on the record the reason for any adjournment
of the fact-finding hearing.

6. Successive motions to adjourn a fact-finding hearing shall not be
granted in the absence of a showing, on the record, of special
circumstances; such circumstances shall not include calendar congestion
or the status of the court's docket or backlog.

7. For purposes of this section, if a warrant for the respondent's
arrest has been issued pursuant to section 312.2 of this article due to
the respondent's failure to appear for a scheduled fact-finding hearing,
computation of the time within which such hearing must take place shall
exclude the period extending from the date of issuance of the bench
warrant for respondent's arrest because of his or her failure to appear
to the date the respondent subsequently appears in court pursuant to a
bench warrant or appears voluntarily; provided, however, no period of
time may be excluded hereunder unless the respondent's location cannot
be determined by the exercise of due diligence or, if the respondent's
location is known, his or her presence in court cannot be obtained by
the exercise of due diligence. In determining whether due diligence has
been exercised, the court shall consider, among other factors, the
report presented to the court pursuant to subdivision two of section
312.2 of this article.