How Long Does a Criminal Case Take in New York? The Real Timeline From Arrest to Sentencing, What It Costs, and the Deadlines That Can End the Case for Long Island Defendants (2026)

How long does a criminal case take in New York?

Two to six months for a misdemeanor and six to eighteen months for a felony is the honest range for a New York criminal case, measured from the arrest to the day the case is over. A misdemeanor that resolves at the first or second court date can be done in six weeks. A felony that goes to a jury verdict can take two years.

Here is the hard truth most people do not hear at arraignment: the length of your case is mostly in your hands and your lawyer's, not the court's. The court gives you dates. What happens between those dates, whether discovery is demanded and reviewed, whether motions are filed, whether an offer is accepted or refused, is what decides if your case takes three months or thirty.

The numbers above are not statutory. They are what I see in my practice in Nassau and Suffolk County District Court and County Court, and they line up with the public data. New York City's Independent Budget Office found that felony cases in the five boroughs took a median of 424 days to resolve, against a median of 288 days in the rest of the state. Long Island sits closer to the statewide figure, and misdemeanors move faster than either.

What the statutes do set are the outer limits, and those are the numbers that matter when a case is dragging: the speedy trial clock under CPL 30.30, the discovery clock under CPL 245.10, and the custody release clocks under CPL 180.80 and CPL 190.80. Every section below walks through one of them, in the order you will actually hit them.

What happens first: arrest, arraignment, and the 24 hour rule

The first thing that happens is arraignment, and it must happen fast. CPL 140.20 requires that an arrested person be brought before a local criminal court "without unnecessary delay," and the Court of Appeals in People ex rel. Maxian v. Brown held that a delay beyond 24 hours is presumptively unreasonable. On Long Island that means Nassau County District Court in Hempstead or Suffolk County District Court in Central Islip, both of which arraign seven days a week.

Not everyone is held until arraignment. For most misdemeanors and many lower level felonies, CPL 150.20 requires the officer to issue a desk appearance ticket (a DAT) instead of holding you, and your arraignment is the return date printed on that ticket, typically two to six weeks out. If you were given a DAT, your case has not started yet in the eyes of CPL 30.30. Under CPL 30.30(7)(b), the speedy trial clock begins on the day you first appear in court on the ticket, not on the day of the arrest.

At arraignment three things happen in about five minutes. The charges are read from the accusatory instrument, which will be a misdemeanor complaint, an information, or a felony complaint. The judge decides release: for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, bail cannot be set at all under CPL 510.10, and you are released on your own recognizance or with conditions. And you get your next date. In Nassau and Suffolk the first adjournment is typically two to four weeks.

If you are held on a felony complaint, two clocks start that day. Under CPL 180.80 you must be released on your own recognizance if 120 hours pass (144 if a weekend or holiday intervenes) without an indictment, a certification that an indictment has been voted, or the start of a preliminary hearing. Under CPL 190.80, if you have been held for the grand jury for more than 45 days with no grand jury action, you must be released. If you are held on a misdemeanor complaint, CPL 170.70 requires release after more than five days if the prosecution has not converted the complaint to an information with sworn supporting depositions.

The stages of a New York criminal case, from arrest to sentencing

Every criminal case in New York moves through the same stages. The time range in parentheses is what I see on Long Island; the statute is what controls.

1. Arrest and arraignment (day 1, or 2 to 6 weeks later on a desk appearance ticket). You are formally charged, release is decided, and the CPL 30.30 clock starts. CPL 140.20 and CPL 150.20 control.
2. Discovery (weeks 3 to 5). Under CPL 245.10 the prosecution must hand over its initial discovery within 20 calendar days of arraignment if you are in custody and 35 if you are not, with up to 30 extra days for exceptionally voluminous material such as body camera footage. That means police reports, witness names, your statements, video, and lab results, all automatic, no request needed. The prosecution then files a certificate of compliance under CPL 245.50, and under CPL 30.30(5) a statement of readiness is not valid without one.
3. Felony complaint to indictment (weeks 1 to 8 for a felony only). A felony cannot go to trial on a complaint. The District Attorney presents to a grand jury, which votes an indictment or a reduced charge. On Long Island the case then moves from District Court to Nassau County Court in Mineola or Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, where you are arraigned a second time on the indictment. In New York City the case moves from Criminal Court to Supreme Court. Many felony cases are resolved before indictment with a plea to a misdemeanor or a reduced felony, which is why that window matters so much.
4. Pretrial motions (days 45 to 90). CPL 255.20 requires all pretrial motions to be served within 45 days of arraignment. This is the omnibus motion: suppression of statements, identifications, and physical evidence under CPL 710, dismissal for facial insufficiency, and a demand that the court inspect the grand jury minutes. If the court orders hearings, they are scheduled for the next one to three months.
5. Hearings and plea negotiations (months 3 to 9). Suppression hearings (Mapp, Huntley, Dunaway, Wade) are often where a case is won or lost, because evidence that gets suppressed usually cannot be replaced. Most plea offers improve after the prosecution has to put its witnesses on the stand. Most cases end here, with a plea, an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal under CPL 170.55, or a dismissal.
6. The CPL 30.30 motion (whenever the clock runs out). If the prosecution has not validly declared readiness within 6 months on a felony, 90 days on a class A misdemeanor, 60 days on a class B misdemeanor, or 30 days on a violation, excluding delay you caused or consented to, a motion to dismiss must be granted. This is a hard deadline, not a guideline.
7. Trial (months 6 to 18 on a misdemeanor, months 9 to 24 on a felony). A misdemeanor trial in District Court typically takes one to three days; a felony jury trial in County Court takes one to three weeks. Getting a trial date is the slow part. Trials are scheduled months out and often adjourned when another trial is running.
8. Sentencing (2 to 8 weeks after a plea or verdict). On a felony the court orders a presentence report from Probation, which takes four to eight weeks. On a misdemeanor you are often sentenced the same day you plead. A notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of sentence under CPL 460.10.

How much does a criminal case cost in New York?

A criminal case in New York costs you three things: the attorney's fee, the court's mandatory surcharges and any fine, and the collateral costs that nobody puts on a receipt.

Attorney's fees. In my practice a misdemeanor on Long Island is handled for a flat fee, and most fall between $2,500 and $7,500 depending on whether hearings are needed. A felony runs $7,500 to $25,000 through plea or dismissal, and a felony that goes to a jury trial is more, because a two week trial is two weeks of nothing else. I quote a flat fee up front because nobody facing charges should also be watching an hourly meter. If you cannot afford counsel, you are entitled to assigned counsel or the Legal Aid Society at arraignment.

Court costs. These are set by statute and the court cannot waive them. Under Penal Law 60.35, a felony conviction carries a mandatory surcharge of $300 plus a $25 crime victim assistance fee; a misdemeanor carries $175 plus $25; a violation carries $95 plus $25. A town or village court adds $5. Certain offenses add a $50 DNA databank fee. Fines are on top of the surcharge and vary by offense: a class A misdemeanor fine can reach $1,000, and a felony fine can reach $5,000 or double the gain from the crime. DWI has its own surcharge schedule under the Vehicle and Traffic Law.

The worked example. A first arrest for a class A misdemeanor that resolves after a suppression hearing with a plea to a violation: a flat fee in the middle of the misdemeanor range, say $5,000, plus the violation surcharge of $95 and the $25 fee, plus perhaps a $250 fine. Total out of pocket, about $5,370. The same case with no suppression hearing, resolved with an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal at the second court date, costs the fee and nothing else, because an ACD is not a conviction and carries no surcharge.

The costs that matter most are the ones not on that list. A misdemeanor conviction stays on your record for years, and under CPL 160.57 it is not automatically sealed until three years after sentence, a felony until eight. It can cost a professional license, a pistol permit, a security clearance, an immigration status, or a job. That is why the cheapest outcome is almost always the one that keeps a conviction off the record, not the one with the lowest fee.

Can the case be dismissed if the prosecutor misses the deadline?

Yes. If the prosecution is not ready for trial within the CPL 30.30 period, the court must grant a motion to dismiss. That is 6 months for a felony, 90 days for a misdemeanor punishable by more than three months in jail (every class A misdemeanor), 60 days for a class B misdemeanor, and 30 days for a violation. The statute says the motion "must be granted," and courts dismiss on it every week.

What makes 30.30 real in 2026 is the discovery reform in Article 245. Before 2020 a prosecutor could say "ready" at arraignment and stop the clock. Now CPL 30.30(5) ties readiness to a valid certificate of compliance under CPL 245.50. If the prosecution declares ready without having actually turned over the discovery, and the court finds it did not act with due diligence, the readiness is illusory and the clock keeps running. A 2025 amendment directs courts to judge diligence on the totality of the prosecution's efforts rather than item by item, so the argument has become harder than it was in 2021, but it is far from gone. I review every certificate of compliance for what is missing.

Not every day counts against the prosecution. CPL 30.30(4) excludes time you asked for, time your motions were pending, time you were absent or on a warrant, and reasonable delay from competency proceedings or a co-defendant. Keeping track of which adjournments are charged to the People and which are charged to you is a large part of what a defense lawyer does on every court date, and it is why "consent" on the record is never automatic.

There is a second, faster version of 30.30 for people in jail. Under CPL 30.30(2), if you are held in custody and the prosecution is not ready within 90 days on a felony or 30 days on a class A misdemeanor, you must be released on your own recognizance or bail, even if the case itself continues.

Two exceptions. Homicide charges under Penal Law 125.10 through 125.27 are exempt from 30.30 entirely, and the constitutional speedy trial right under CPL 30.20 still applies to them. And the prosecution can defeat a 30.30 motion with a showing of exceptional circumstances, such as a witness who suddenly became unavailable despite diligence.

Can I just skip court, or talk to the prosecutor myself to speed it up?

No, and both of those shortcuts are the two fastest ways to make a short case long.

Missing a court date is the single worst thing you can do to your timeline. The judge issues a bench warrant under CPL 530.70. Under CPL 30.30(4)(c), every day from the warrant to the day you come back is excluded from the speedy trial clock, so the prosecution's deadline freezes while your exposure grows. When you do come back you are now a person who did not show up, which changes the release decision and the plea offer. And missing a date on a desk appearance ticket is a separate crime: bail jumping under Penal Law 215.55 through 215.57 if you were released on bail, and a new charge is routinely added when a DAT is ignored. A two month case becomes a six month case with a second docket number.

Talking to the prosecutor or the police yourself is the other shortcut. Anything you say to a detective who calls "just to get your side" is a statement the prosecution must disclose under CPL 245.20(1)(a) and will use. Anything you say to the complaining witness can become a witness tampering charge under Penal Law 215.10 or a violation of a temporary order of protection under CPL 530.12 or 530.13, which is its own criminal contempt charge under Penal Law 215.50. I have never seen a self-negotiated plea come out better than one negotiated by counsel, and I have seen many that came out worse.

What actually speeds a case up is the opposite: show up for every date, say nothing to anyone but your lawyer, get the discovery reviewed within the 35 day window, and decide early whether this is a case to fight or a case to resolve.

How long does the victim or complainant have to wait?

A complainant waits on the same clock as the defendant: 2 to 6 months on a misdemeanor and 6 to 18 months on a felony, and a trial pushes both out further. Complainants on Long Island often ask me, usually about a case I am not on, why nothing has happened in four months. The honest answer is that four months is normal.

A few things specific to the complainant's side. Under New York's Fair Treatment Standards for crime victims in Executive Law 640 through 649, the District Attorney's office is required to keep the victim informed of the case status and to consult on a plea in certain cases, and in Nassau and Suffolk the DA's victim advocates do that. A temporary order of protection issued at arraignment under CPL 530.12 or 530.13 stays in force for the life of the case and can be extended at sentencing. A complainant cannot "drop the charges"; once the District Attorney files, the People of the State of New York are the party, and a complainant who stops cooperating slows the case but does not end it, because the prosecution can still proceed on other evidence or dismiss on its own motion.

Restitution is ordered at sentencing under Penal Law 60.27, and under Penal Law 60.35(6) a defendant who pays restitution is not also charged the mandatory surcharge. If you are the complainant, the time to raise restitution with the assistant district attorney is before the plea, not after.

What slows a criminal case down, and what speeds it up?

The four things that slow a New York criminal case most are, in order: a defendant who misses court, a prosecutor who files a defective certificate of compliance and has to supplement it, a suppression hearing that keeps getting adjourned because an officer is unavailable, and a trial calendar where your case is third in line. Lab results, especially DNA and toxicology, routinely add two to four months on their own. A felony that stays in District Court while the DA decides whether to indict can sit for weeks with nothing visible happening.

The four things that speed it up are: a desk appearance ticket case where counsel contacts the District Attorney before the first date, discovery that is demanded in writing and reviewed on day one, a motion that is filed on day 44 instead of day 90, and a client who has decided what outcome he can live with. In Nassau and Suffolk, a misdemeanor with clean discovery and a defendant with no record can be resolved with an ACD under CPL 170.55 at the second appearance, inside 60 days. The ACD itself runs six months (one year on a family offense), and then the case is dismissed and the arrest is deemed a nullity under CPL 170.55(8).

One speed lever most people do not know about: the time your own motions are pending does not count against the prosecution under CPL 30.30(4)(a). That is a reason to file motions that matter and skip the ones that do not.

The mistakes that restart the clock, and the hard truth about waiting it out

Three mistakes restart a criminal case from zero or worse. Missing a court date, which freezes the prosecution's deadline and adds a warrant. Picking up a new arrest while the first case is open, which converts a probable ACD into a plea and converts a probable non-jail plea into a jail offer. And violating an order of protection, which adds a criminal contempt charge that the District Attorney will not fold into the original case.

A fourth mistake is quieter. Taking the first plea offer at arraignment because it ends the case that day. It does end the case. It also ends it with a conviction that will not seal for three years under CPL 160.57 and that follows you to every background check in between. In my practice the second offer, after discovery, is almost always better than the first, and the offer after a suppression hearing is better again.

The hard truth about waiting it out is that time is only on your side if your lawyer is counting it. The CPL 30.30 clock does not run itself. It has to be tracked adjournment by adjournment, the certificate of compliance has to be audited, and the motion has to be filed. A case that "took a long time" is not automatically a case that gets dismissed. A case where the People were charged with 181 days on a felony is.

If you have been arrested anywhere in Nassau or Suffolk County, or given a desk appearance ticket with a date you do not understand, the next step is a phone call before that date, not after. You can read more about what a conviction does to your record in how long a misdemeanor stays on your record in New York, and about the first 24 hours of a DWI arrest in what happens first after a DWI in New York. The full scope of my criminal defense practice is here.