Section 100.15. Information, misdemeanor complaint and felony complaint; form and content  


Latest version.
  • 1.  An information, a misdemeanor complaint  and  a  felony  complaint
      must  each  specify the name of the court with which it is filed and the
      title of the action, and must be subscribed and  verified  by  a  person
      known  as  the "complainant."   The complainant may be any person having
      knowledge, whether personal or  upon  information  and  belief,  of  the
      commission  of  the  offense or offenses charged.   Each instrument must
      contain an accusatory part  and  a  factual  part.    The  complainant's
      verification  of  the  instrument is deemed to apply only to the factual
      part thereof and not to the accusatory part.
        2.  The accusatory part of each such  instrument  must  designate  the
      offense  or  offenses  charged.    As  in the case of an indictment, and
      subject to the rules of joinder applicable to indictments, two  or  more
      offenses  may  be charged in separate counts.  Also as in the case of an
      indictment, such instrument may charge two or more  defendants  provided
      that  all such defendants are jointly charged with every offense alleged
      therein.
        3.  The factual part of such instrument must contain  a  statement  of
      the complainant alleging facts of an evidentiary character supporting or
      tending to support the charges.  Where more than one offense is charged,
      the  factual  part should consist of a single factual account applicable
      to all the counts of the accusatory part.  The factual  allegations  may
      be  based  either  upon  personal  knowledge  of the complainant or upon
      information and belief.   Nothing contained in  this  section,  however,
      limits  or  affects  the  requirement,  prescribed in subdivision one of
      section 100.40, that in order for an information or a count  thereof  to
      be  sufficient on its face, every element of the offense charged and the
      defendant's  commission  thereof  must  be  supported   by   non-hearsay
      allegations of such information and/or any supporting depositions.
        4.   Where a felony complaint charges a violent felony offense defined
      in section 70.02 of the penal law and such offense is an armed felony as
      defined in subdivision forty-one of section 1.20,
        (a)  the accusatory part of the instrument must designate the  offense
      as  an  armed  felony,  and  (b) the factual part of the instrument must
      allege facts of  an  evidentiary  character  supporting  or  tending  to
      support such designation.