NASSAU COUNTY DESK APPEARANCE TICKET PROCEDURES

Note - Procedures for handling what is expected to be a great increase in the number of Desk Appearance Tickets in Nassau County once the new law takes effect in January, 2020, have yet to be announced officially. Although Nassau County does currently use Appearance Tickets at a greater rate than New York City, the new law is expected to increase volume at the Hempstead Courthouse on Main Street.

The situation with Desk Appearance Tickets in Nassau County is very different from the situation with Desk Appearance Tickets in New York City. On one hand, under the rules currently in effect, you are more likely to get a Desk Appearance Ticket in Nassau County than in New York City. That’s the good news. On the other hand, cases that get Desk Appearance Tickets in Nassau County are generally dealt with over a longer period of time than you might see in a case originally charged on a DAT in New York City. That’s the bad news.

In Nassau County, it is not really all that unusual for the Government to request and for the Court to impose bail on people who appear on Desk Appearance Tickets, even though those people have provided actual proof that they are capable to appearing in Court when requested (which is the essential issue in a Judge’s decision to set bail or not). Under the sweeping new criminal justice reforms that will take effect in January, 2020, this Nassau County practice will largely become illegal. New rules about when and under what circumstances a Judge may impose bail, and the forms that that bail may take will create a whole new world in Nassau County. The number of times people will be taken into custody after appearing on a Desk Appearance Ticket in Nassau County will undoubtedly drop to near zero.

If you receive a desk appearance ticket (dat) from a Nassau County police officer, you are likely to be directed to appear in District Court in Hempstead.

The Court system in Nassau County is arranged slightly differently than the Court system in New York City. District Court would be considered the rough equivalent of "Criminal Court" in New York City, that is, the place where misdemeanor and some felony cases (prior to being indicted) are heard.

Unlike New York City, Nassau County uses the Desk Appearance Ticket procedure frequently. Therefore, it is probably easier to be "qualified" for a desk appearance ticket in Nassau County.

You should get to the District Court in Hempstead early in order to be on time. Try to be inside the building by 9 AM. Arraignments are held in the first floor in courtrooms that are near the circular information booth toward the center of the building near the elevators.

Desk Appearance Ticket cases are rarely resolved on the day of arraignment or first appearance in Nassau County, although this practice is beginning to change.

If you do not bring a lawyer with you, you will have to wait for an assigned lawyer to call out your name and speak to you.

The Longstanding Practice of Nassau County Setting Bail on Appearance Tickets is mostly Over

Nassau County never seemed to grasp that people who appeared voluntarily on appearance tickets as requested have answered the critical question regarding bail, which is “Will the person return to Court if asked?” As a result, the setting of money bail was actually seriously in play in Nassau County, even in Appearance Ticket situations. I have witnessed bail being set on people appearing on Appearance Tickets in Nassau multiple times. This was in stark contrast to neighboring Court systems, such as New York City, where the setting of bail on appearance ticket defendants was impossibly rare.

Thanks to the 2020 bail reforms, however, this Nassau County practice will largely come to an end. The changing law regarding bail will make money bail illegal in nearly every case (but not quite all) where a person is given an appearance ticket. The world of money bail will also drastically change in Nassau County for regular arraignments where money bail is requested by the DA’s Office and granted by the Courts with a frequency and in amounts that seemed to far exceed neighboring Court systems of New York City and Suffolk County. How things will change for Nassau County on January 1, 2020.

Be on the Lookout for Direct Mail Solicitations by Lawyers in Nassau County

You may also find after your first appearance in Nassau County, especially if you are told that you must retain counsel, that you will be inundated with direct mail solicitations from private lawyers hoping to convince you to hire them for your case. Many clients of ours have been horrified to receive mailings from lawyers because these mailings can be seen by others in the household who may not be aware of the existence of a criminal charge. People receiving such direct mail solicitations from lawyers report to us a feeling of gross invasion of privacy from lawyers who are supposed to be about maintaining privacy of their clients.

Given that many of the people receiving such direct mail solicitations from lawyers have previously retained us or other lawyers, these direct mail lawyers are in effect soliciting work from other lawyers’ current clients. This practice has been approved, however, by the bar, and therefore is now a common part of the landscape of criminal practice in Nassau County. Therefore, if you have been charged with a crime in Nassau County, and you live in a location where your mail is observed by others in your household who are unaware of your predicament, know that you need to monitor your mailbox.

You should know that if any one of the same lawyers who send you direct mail solicitations were to approach you in the Courthouse for the purpose of soliciting your business in the exact same way, only in person, they would be in clear violation of ethical standards, and could be in jeopardy of losing their privilege to practice law. It has been determined for you, however, that a direct mail solicitation is less intrusive than an in person solicitation in court, and therefore is just fine. If you care to read an ethics opinion from the Bar Association of Nassau County declaring direct mail solicitation by lawyers in criminal cases just fine, click on this link.

Food for Thought…

The next time you have some medical procedure scheduled, imagine getting a dozen letters from surgeons other than your own, offering to perform the same surgery and hawking their experience and skill in some sort of slick brochure. Imagine also, that the surgery you have planned is something deeply personal to you that nobody else in your household knows about because it is none of their business. But now suddenly you are getting dozens of letters from surgeons…

Lawyers who defend direct mail solicitation practice in criminal cases might suggest that the information about your name and address and the type of case that you have is public record, and therefore you have nothing to complain about that he or she has used this information to send you a direct mail solicitation about a potentially embarrassing predicament you are in. Yet, it seems a sort of aggressive and pitiless attitude, however legal and ethical it has been determined to be.

This argument is really just a very short step away from the sales pitch, “Well if you were so worried about your privacy, then maybe you shouldn’t have gotten yourself arrested. Too bad if you don’t like getting direct mail solicitations from lawyers. It serves my interest to send out these mailings, so I don’t care that you might not think it serves yours. So… do you want to be my client or not?”

Seems to me that question answers itself.

James Shalley has been practicing criminal defense in New York for more than 30 years.

Call 347-612-9830 for your free consultation with JAMES SHALLEY today.