N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law § 100.15: Information, misdemeanor complaint and felony complaint; form and content

§ 100.15 Information, misdemeanor complaint and felony complaint; form

and content.

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.