Harassment and Stalking Laws in New York

Harassment in the second degree (shoving or striking, following someone in public, or a course of alarming conduct with no legitimate purpose) is a violation; intentionally and repeatedly harassing another person is harassment in the first degree, a class B misdemeanor. Threatening someone by telephone, computer or other electronic means, or making calls with no legitimate purpose, is aggravated harassment in the second degree, a class A misdemeanor. Stalking in the fourth degree (a course of conduct aimed at a specific person, including GPS tracking, that causes reasonable fear of material harm or, after being told to stop, emotional harm or fear for one's job) is a class B misdemeanor; third degree (a class A misdemeanor) covers threats of physical injury, multiple victims, or a prior stalking or predicate conviction within ten years. Stalking becomes a felony as stalking in the second degree, a class E felony, when a weapon is displayed or threatened, the victim is under fourteen (and the stalker is 21 or older), or there are certain prior convictions or ten or more victims, and stalking in the first degree, a class D felony, when the stalker causes physical injury or commits certain sex offenses.

New York's rule on court-appointed lawyers: Each county (and New York City) must operate a plan for providing counsel to persons charged with a crime who are financially unable to obtain counsel, through a public defender, a legal aid bureau or society, a bar association assigned-counsel plan or conflict defender, or a combination (County Law § 722). Judges decide eligibility; providers often screen applicants and make recommendations. Under the statewide eligibility standards of the Office of Indigent Legal Services (issued under Executive Law § 832), income at or below 250% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines is one of four presumptions of eligibility, an applicant who is incarcerated, detained or confined to a mental health institution is presumptively eligible, and applicants above the income line are not automatically denied. ILS publishes an Assigned Counsel Eligibility Application Form. N.Y. County Law § 722; Executive Law § 832; ILS Eligibility Standards

How release before trial works in New York: The court issues a securing order after making an individualized determination about the risk that the principal will not return to court, and must explain its choice on the record or in writing. The court shall release the principal pending trial on the principal's own recognizance, unless it finds that release will not reasonably assure the principal's return to court; the court must consider the kind and degree of control or restriction necessary to reasonably assure the principal's return to court. Monetary bail or remand is available only for a 'qualifying offense' listed in § 510.10(4) (for example, any crime alleged to have caused the death of another person); for a qualifying offense the court may release on recognizance or non-monetary conditions, fix bail, or (for a felony) commit the principal to the sheriff. When monetary bail is authorized, the court must consider the principal's individual financial circumstances. If the principal is financially unable to obtain counsel, counsel shall be assigned. N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law § 510.10 What happens after an arrest.

Each state sets its own rules for sealing or expunging records. See New York expungement and record sealing rules.