A bedrock requirement of a criminal case in New York has always been that the accuser must swear that his or her accusations are true. In misdemeanor cases this is done by putting one’s signature below the written accusations and an acknowledgement that false statements can be prosecuted. This act of swearing converts the hearsay-based complaint into an “information,” and the prosecution can then proceed on that document, which is the misdemeanor equivalent of the indictment in felony cases.
Section 100.30 of the Criminal Procedure Law lays out the exclusive methods of verification; all include signing and swearing. Nevertheless, a recent decision by a Queens Criminal Court judge would substitute a new procedure: verification by email. In People v. Gustalvo Perez Sanchez,1 Judge Deborah Modica ruled that an email from an accuser, containing his or her name printed below the accusations and the false statements acknowledgement, suffices to convert the hearsay complaint into an information.
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