N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law § 10.20: Superior courts; jurisdiction

§ 10.20 Superior courts; jurisdiction.

1. Superior courts have trial jurisdiction of all offenses. They have:

(a) Exclusive trial jurisdiction of felonies; and

(b) Trial jurisdiction of misdemeanors concurrent with that of the

local criminal courts; and

(c) Trial jurisdiction of petty offenses, but only when such an

offense is charged in an indictment which also charges a crime.

2. Superior courts have preliminary jurisdiction of all offenses, but

they exercise such jurisdiction only by reason of and through the agency

of their grand juries.

3. Superior court judges may, in their discretion, sit as local

criminal courts for the following purposes:

(a) conducting arraignments, as provided in subdivision two of section

170.15 and subdivision two of section 180.20 of this chapter;

(b) issuing warrants of arrests, as provided in subdivision one of

section 120.70 of this chapter; and

(c) issuing search warrants, as provided in article six hundred ninety

of this chapter.