Queens courtrooms are living, breathing calendars. Dates matter. So do the minutes that tick by while a case sits “on for conference,” or when a prosecutor swears discovery is almost done, or when a judge sighs and mutters that the part is double-booked. For a person charged with a crime, time is not theoretical. Time is bail money burned by the week. It is job shifts missed. It is the knot in your stomach that tightens each time your name gets called. And time, under New York’s speedy trial rules, can be the difference between a conviction and a dismissal.
I spend a lot of days in Queens Criminal Court, watching how CPL 30.30 and CPL 30.20 actually operate, not just how they look in a statute book. The law says you have a right to a speedy trial. Queens, like the rest of the city, runs that right through a maze of readiness statements, discovery obligations, and adjournments that either count or do not count against the People. If you understand the map, and you have a Queens criminal defense lawyer who keeps a clean ledger, you can turn the calendar into a defense.
What “speedy” actually means in New York
When clients ask about speedy trial rights, they usually mean two related but distinct things. There’s the constitutional right under CPL 30.20, which imports the federal and state constitutional standards. Then there’s CPL 30.30, New York’s statutory clock that most Queens cases live and die by. 30.20 is the broad principle. 30.30 is the stopwatch.
Under CPL 30.30, the prosecution must be ready for trial within a set time, which varies by charge severity. If they are not ready within that time, and the days are “chargeable” to the People, dismissal is on the table. The key is not how fast the trial actually happens, but whether the People declare and maintain readiness within the statutory time. That difference matters, because Queens can take months to schedule a trial even after both sides say they are ready. The law focuses on readiness, not the speed of courtroom logistics.
If you are staring at a misdemeanor, the clock is generally 90 days for a B misdemeanor and 60 days for a C, D, or unclassified misdemeanor. For an A misdemeanor, the clock is 90 days. For a felony, the statutory time is generally six months. That shorthand hides layers of exceptions. The People can stop the clock by filing a valid Certificate of Readiness, as long as they truly are ready, meaning they have done what the law requires to actually try the case. For misdemeanors and many felonies, that now includes timely discovery compliance, a sea change brought by New York’s discovery reform.
In the old days, prosecutors sometimes called out “ready” just to stop the clock, then asked for time later to produce witnesses or records. That strategy is riskier now. Fake readiness can backfire if a judge finds the People were not actually ready when they said they were. A Queens criminal lawyer who has his or her antenna up will press that point, sometimes with surgical timing, because a flimsy readiness statement can swing a close 30.30 motion.
Discovery reform changed the pace
In 2020, discovery rules tightened. The People must turn over broad categories of material automatically, early in the case. A valid Certificate of Compliance with discovery often pairs with a Certificate of Readiness. If the discovery is incomplete, readiness can be illusory. That is not theory. It shows up when you get a stack of body-worn camera footage with missing time stamps, or when a lab report is “pending” while the People insist they are ready anyway.
In Queens, labs can take weeks to produce narcotics analyses, DNA comparisons, or ballistics reports. Many cases hinge on those documents. If the People file a readiness statement before obtaining the reports they know they will need at trial, a savvy queens criminal defense lawyer will mark the date, flag the deficiency, and later argue the readiness should not have stopped the clock. Sometimes the court agrees. Sometimes the court says the People reasonably believed they were ready. It is a fight worth having, because a few weeks of chargeable time can make the difference.
Another logjam involves discovery about civilian witnesses and police personnel. Addresses, known aliases, and disciplinary records can all matter. The People can move for protective orders, which may be appropriate in some cases, but protective orders do not green-light a blank refusal to disclose. Each day the People wait without good cause can count.
The calendar game: adjournments, chargeable time, and the paperwork that wins
The fastest way to blow a 30.30 motion is sloppy math. Speedy trial practice is a ledger, not a slogan. Every adjournment has a date, a reason, and a person to whom those days should be charged.
Here is how it looks in real life. You appear in intake court on a misdemeanor. The People are not ready. The judge asks why. The prosecutor says the officer is on vacation, or discovery is still in process, or the lab report is not back. The court gives a two-week adjournment. Those two weeks might be chargeable to the People. Or perhaps the defense asks for a longer date to accommodate a work schedule. That swallows some of the time for the defense. If the People file a Certificate of Readiness a week later, in the interim, they might staunch the bleeding. Unless, of course, the readiness is not valid.
As a criminal lawyer in Queens, I save everything. Minute orders. Email stamps. E-filing receipts. Discovery cover letters. If the People claimed readiness on a Thursday, and did not e-serve discovery until Friday at 8:43 p.m., that discrepancy might mean the clock did not stop when they said it did. Judges care about the record. Good records win.
One more detail that trips up non-specialists: partial readiness. The People sometimes say they are ready on counts one and two, but not count three. Or they are ready to proceed on a lesser-included offense but not the top count. Partial readiness can stop the clock as to certain charges while the higher count keeps running. That nuance can produce odd results, like dismissing the felony but keeping the misdemeanor alive, or vice versa. A queens criminal defense lawyer who keeps separate tally marks for each count can sometimes carve out a dismissal even when the case as a whole continues.
The human side of delay
We talk about “chargeable time” like a bookkeeping exercise. It is not. Delay hurts. People miss shifts and lose jobs. Parents scramble for childcare on short notice. Defendants on pretrial supervision juggle curfews and check-ins. Even people out on recognizance carry the weight. Anyone who has walked through the metal detectors at 120-55 Queens Boulevard knows the feeling: the day is not yours anymore.
Speedy trial rights exist because the system, left unchecked, can take its time, and time becomes punishment. I had a client on a shoplifting case, a first offense, who showed up to court twelve times over nine months because the People kept announcing not ready, then filing a Certificate of Readiness just before the next date. He almost pled guilty simply to stop the churn. We filed a 30.30 motion. The judge dismissed the case because the People burned too many days during a three-month window when discovery was incomplete. The client did not celebrate, exactly. He exhaled. That release is what the statute is for.
Queens-specific realities
Every borough has its quirks. Queens has size and variety. You see cases from JFK, from the 102 through the 113, from specialized task forces, and from Port Authority police. Each brings unique discovery and witness issues. Officers rotate shifts and units. Civilian witnesses who live in multiple-family homes can be hard to contact. Video lives on hard drives at retailers who change managers every few months. Translators are in demand. Court parts run full. All of this affects readiness.
No one in Queens is surprised when an ADA explains that a necessary witness is assigned to training or on military leave, or that a body-worn camera server glitched, or that a lab analyst is tied up testifying in a homicide. The question is not whether obstacles exist. The question is whether those obstacles justify the length of delay under the statute. Courts balance good cause against the defendant’s right. Sometimes one snowstorm does not count. A blizzard of administrative slowdowns over many weeks often does.
Bail, remand, and why speed matters even more when you are sitting
Time moves differently when you are detained. If you are remanded or cannot post bail, a week on Rikers is not the same as a week at home. Judges know this. The law reflects it. Extended pretrial detention weighs heavily in constitutional speedy trial analysis under CPL 30.20 and the Barker v. Wingo factors that New York courts consider. Even under 30.30, courts tend to scrutinize the People’s readiness claims more closely when liberty is at stake day by day.
A practical note: detained clients sometimes think any adjournment defense asks for will count against the speedy trial time. Not always. Consent to adjourn does not automatically shift the clock to the defense. The key is why the case is adjourned. If the People are not ready and ask for the time, those days usually count for them unless a statutory exclusion applies. A queens criminal defense lawyer who is mindful of detention will press for short dates and make a clean record that the adjournment is attributable to the People, even if the defense can only return on a specific day. This is not nitpicking. It is leverage.
Excludable time, the People’s safety valve
The statute excludes certain periods from the 30.30 calculation. This is where prosecutors restore lost ground. Common exclusions include:
- Reasonable time for motion practice and decisions, especially when the defense files the motion. Unavailability of the defendant, or delay caused by the defendant’s actions, such as failing to appear after notice.
Everything else Law Offices Of Michael Dreishpoon Queens Criminal Lawyer is heavily fact-dependent. Medical emergencies for witnesses, court congestion, and discovery disputes can be excludable, but only with a solid record. The People often argue that law enforcement delays or lab backlogs are outside their control, so the time should be excluded. Courts vary in how generous they are. In Queens, I have seen judges forgive brief, documented issues, but balk at systemic delays stretched across months. If the police department needs six weeks to produce a video that could have been requested on day one, many judges count much of that time against the People.
Defense lawyers should not concede exclusions casually. Ask for details. What exact date did the People request the lab? When was the witness first contacted? Can the ADA produce an email chain? Specifics beat generalities. A Queens criminal lawyer who asks the right questions at calendar call often wins the 30.30 motion months later.
The art of the motion: timing and tone
30.30 motions are both arithmetic and advocacy. File too early, and you tip the People off, giving them time to cure. Wait too long, and you risk a legitimate readiness. I often prepare the motion in pieces as the case develops. When the ledger crosses the threshold, I file. If I think the People will scramble to produce missing discovery to backdate their readiness, I move while the deficiency is fresh.
The tone matters. Judges read a lot of boilerplate. What lands is a clean timeline with citations to the record. If the People announced ready on March 1, but the body-worn camera footage for the arresting officer arrived March 14, and the ADA conceded in court that he had not watched the full footage as of March 10, that looks like non-readiness. Tie that to the certificate dates and service logs. Keep the rhetoric low and the receipts high.
Dismissal is not the only remedy
People understandably fixate on dismissal. It is the headline remedy for 30.30 violations. But even when the clock does not add up to dismissal, delay gives the defense leverage. Witnesses move. Memories fade. A store camera overwrites after 30 days, and the People forgot to preserve it. That gap can support a missing evidence instruction or an argument that the People’s case, while technically trial-ready, is not strong enough to risk a jury.
Occasionally, the judge will dismiss the top counts but keep lower ones alive. That outcome can be strategic. A client who once faced a jail-eligible offense might end up with a violation or a non-criminal disposition. If you are a criminal defense attorney focused on outcomes rather than proclamations, you work the calendar to serve the client’s goals, not pride.
When clients ask if they should waive time
“Should I waive time?” That question comes up when the defense wants more time to investigate, retain an expert, or negotiate. There is no one-size answer. Waiving time can signal good faith to a judge and create space for a better plea offer, especially if the People are ready and not budging. On the other hand, waiving time can erase valuable pressure. In Queens, where parts are busy and prosecutors are juggling dockets, deadlines focus minds. I rarely waive broadly. If we need time, I try to narrow the waiver to specific days or a concrete purpose: expert review of the lab data, defense subpoena returns, interpreter scheduling. Tailor, do not surrender.
Plea negotiations in the shadow of the clock
Plea talks are different when the People are hunting for days. If my ledger shows the People with 75 days chargeable on a 90-day case, I might refresh that fact casually at the bench. Offers tend to improve. Prosecutors have their own pressures. No ADA wants to explain a dismissal because they let time run while holding a stubborn line on a one-day community service offer.
At the same time, defense lawyers must manage expectations. A clean 30.30 dismissal is never guaranteed. Judges forgive some delays, exclude others, and sometimes interpret readiness liberally. If a favorable plea is on the table, and the clock is close but not slam-dunk, you weigh the risks. A good queens criminal defense lawyer will walk a client through scenarios with numbers and likelihoods, not just hope.
Federal vs state: why New York’s approach is its own animal
People hear “speedy trial” and think of the federal Speedy Trial Act. New York’s 30.30 is different. It is not a true speed-to-trial statute. It focuses on prosecutorial readiness. That focus makes sense in a city where court calendars churn and trial parts are scarce. But it creates oddities, like cases that sit “ready” for months. If you are searching online for a Queens criminal lawyer, make sure the attorney talks fluently about readiness, Certificates of Compliance, and discovery carve-outs. If the pitch leans only on constitutional buzzwords, keep asking questions.
Practical steps defendants can take
A brief checklist for clients who want to preserve their speedy trial rights without tripping over them:
- Keep every court paper. Minute sheets, orders, and discovery cover letters. Snap photos if necessary. Dates matter. Tell your lawyer about scheduling constraints early. If you ask for long adjournments, that time can shift to you. Avoid missing court for preventable reasons. Non-appearance can toll the clock and damage credibility. Share everything you know about potential evidence. If your phone holds video, or a store camera captured the scene, flag it immediately so preservation letters go out before footage cycles.
Those simple habits make your lawyer more effective. A Queens criminal lawyer with a thick file and a client who shows up on time is a threat to a sloppy calendar.
Edge cases that fool even seasoned lawyers
Two traps deserve special attention. First, cases with co-defendants. One co-defendant’s unavailability can sometimes affect the clock for all. Severance may solve it, or it may not. You need a strategy tailored to the dynamics, not one lifted from a hornbook.
Second, refiled cases. The People can occasionally dismiss and refile, resetting some aspects of the clock, but not all. If the refile is a thinly veiled attempt to erase old delays, courts may carry over chargeable time. The analysis is technical. I have seen lawyers miss dismissal opportunities because they did not track chargeable time across the old and new docket numbers.
Judges, temperament, and the part you draw
It would be nice if the law applied identically across parts. Human beings run courtrooms. Some Queens judges take a strict view of compliance and readiness. Others emphasize flexibility and the public interest in prosecuting crimes. Your strategy should adjust to the part you draw. If the judge is impatient with discovery squabbles, present a tight, factual record with minimal drama. If the judge is skeptical of Certificates of Readiness filed without completed discovery, lean into that skepticism with specific examples. A queens criminal defense lawyer who watches how a part handles other cases will tailor arguments accordingly.
The outer limit: constitutional speedy trial claims
Most 30.30 motions live or die on statutory time. But if a case drifts far beyond any reasonable horizon, especially with a defendant detained or facing serious life consequences, a constitutional speedy trial motion under CPL 30.20 may be worthwhile. Courts analyze factors like length of delay, reasons for delay, assertion of the right, and prejudice. You do not need to show actual acquittal-level harm, but you must show enough to convince a court that the process itself failed. It is a high bar, more art than math. Occasionally, it is exactly the right move.
Why hiring a Queens-focused defense lawyer matters
Queens has its own rhythms. ADAs rotate bureaus. Some handle domestic violence, some narcotics, some quality-of-life cases. Each bureau has policies about offers and discovery. Court parts run on their own rails. A defense lawyer who practices here daily knows which ADA will send the lab request today and which promises it for next week. That knowledge is not gossip. It saves days on the clock, which can win dismissals.
If you are searching for a criminal lawyer in Queens, ask pointed questions. How do you track 30.30 time in multi-count cases? What is your approach to challenging Certificates of Readiness tied to incomplete discovery? When do you file a motion, and when do you let the People run? If the answers are vague, keep looking. A good Queens criminal lawyer treats the calendar like evidence: precise, corroborated, and ready to be argued.
A short story about a long calendar
One of my felony clients faced a burglary charge that turned on a partial fingerprint and grainy video. The People declared ready within two months, then stalled because the lab’s bench notes lagged behind the summary report. We did not scream in court. We asked calmly, at each date, when the notes were requested, when the lab responded, and whether the ADA had personally reviewed them. Eight weeks later, we moved. The court found the initial readiness invalid because the People lacked critical discovery they knew they needed, and the later readiness did not rescue the lost time. Case dismissed. The client cried in the hallway. Not because he beat a jury, but because he got his time back.
What to do if your case is already dragging
If your case has been lingering in Queens Criminal Court and you feel like a passenger in the backseat, take ownership now. Sit with your lawyer and build the ledger. Go date by date. Note who asked for each adjournment and why. Cross-check Certificates of Readiness against discovery production. Request missing items in writing. If the People cannot produce a document they claim to rely on, lock that admission into the record. A queens criminal defense lawyer who does this consistently will know when to press the button on a 30.30 motion and when to use the threat of the motion to negotiate something better.
Speedy trial rights are not magic words. They are a system of rules and responsibilities that only help you if someone enforces them, moment by moment, hearing by hearing. Queens is busy. The court will not guard your clock for you. That job belongs to your lawyer, and to you, one adjournment at a time.
If you remember nothing else, remember this: in Queens, the calendar is a battlefield. The side that keeps the better records usually wins.