Under New York’s CPL 30.30 speedy trial rule, the prosecution has a fixed number of days to be ready for trial, ranging from 30 days for a violation to six months for a felony, and if it misses that deadline the court must dismiss the case. The clock starts when the first accusatory instrument is filed, pauses for certain delays the defense causes or agrees to, and since 2020 doesn’t stop for a bare announcement of readiness unless the prosecution has actually turned over discovery.
The Deadlines by Charge
CPL 30.30(1) sorts cases by the most serious charge and by the sentencing exposure that charge carries, not by classification label alone.1New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 30.30 – Speedy Trial; Time Limitations The prosecution must be ready within:
- Six months, when the case includes a felony.
- 90 days, when the top charge is a misdemeanor carrying more than three months in jail. This covers what most people call a Class A misdemeanor.
- 60 days, when the top charge is a misdemeanor carrying three months or less. That covers a Class B misdemeanor.
- 30 days, when the case involves only a violation.
These are the dismissal deadlines. If chargeable time exceeds the limit and the defense moves to dismiss, the statute uses mandatory language: the motion must be granted.
When the Clock Starts
The speedy trial clock begins when the criminal action commences. Under CPL 1.20(17), that is the moment the first accusatory instrument is filed with the court, usually a criminal complaint or an indictment.2New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 1.20 – Definitions of Terms of General Use in This Chapter If more than one instrument is filed in the same case, the earliest filing controls. A defendant arrested weeks after a complaint was filed still gets credit for that earlier date.
What Being “Ready” Actually Requires
Prosecutors used to be able to stop the clock by standing up in court and announcing readiness. That changed with New York’s 2020 discovery reforms. Under CPL 245.50, the prosecution is not deemed ready for trial for CPL 30.30 purposes until it files a valid certificate of compliance stating, after due diligence and reasonable inquiry, that it has turned over all discovery required by CPL 245.20.3New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 245.50 – Certificates of Compliance; Readiness for Trial
The discovery obligations are broad. They include witness statements, police reports, grand jury testimony, expert reports, electronic recordings, information about law enforcement personnel involved in the case, and contact information for non-law-enforcement witnesses, among other categories.4New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 245.20 – Automatic Discovery Until the certificate is filed, readiness has not been declared for speedy trial purposes and the clock keeps running.
When a Certificate of Compliance Is Invalid
CPL 30.30(5) requires the court to inquire on the record about whether the prosecution is actually prepared when it announces readiness. If the court finds the prosecution is not truly ready, the statement of readiness is treated as if it was never made, and the days keep counting.
A certificate of compliance is invalid when the prosecution did not exercise due diligence. Courts look at the totality of the effort rather than grading each missing document individually. Factors include how much discovery was provided versus what was outstanding, the complexity of the case, whether the prosecutor knew the missing material existed, whether the omission was corrected once discovered, and whether the late disclosure prejudiced the defense.3New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 245.50 – Certificates of Compliance; Readiness for Trial
A supplemental certificate does not automatically wipe out the original. If the first certificate was filed in good faith and the newly disclosed material either did not exist earlier or was produced promptly once discovered, the original stands. On the defense side, a challenge to a certificate must generally be brought within 35 days of receiving it, and the defense must first certify that it tried in good faith to work the problem out with the prosecution.
Time That Doesn’t Count Against the Prosecution
Not every calendar day between arraignment and the deadline counts. CPL 30.30(4) lists categories of excludable delay, and this is where most speedy trial fights actually happen. The main exclusions:
- Adjournments the defense requests or consents to.
- Time spent on pretrial motions, from the filing of the motion through the court’s ruling. That includes suppression hearings and motions to dismiss.
- Periods when the defendant’s location is unknown because they are trying to avoid prosecution, or when their location cannot be determined despite reasonable efforts.
- Other proceedings that pause the case, such as competency evaluations, appeals, and trials on separate charges.
Post-readiness delay gets closer scrutiny. Once the prosecution has declared readiness and later becomes unready, the court must inquire on the record about the reason, and time is excluded only if the prosecution provides sufficient supporting facts.1New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 30.30 – Speedy Trial; Time Limitations These exclusions are why a case can linger on a court calendar for well over a year without generating a speedy trial violation. Each appearance has to be examined to determine which side caused the delay.
The Exceptional Circumstances Escape Hatch
Even after the deadline has technically expired, CPL 30.30(3)(b) allows the court to deny a motion when the prosecution was previously ready and its current unreadiness stems from an exceptional circumstance. A key witness becoming suddenly unavailable is the standard example. The prosecution has to show it exercised genuine effort to address the problem and that there are reasonable grounds to expect the evidence or witness to become available within a reasonable time.
The exception is narrow. A prosecutor who never subpoenaed the witness, or who lost track of forensic evidence for months, will not satisfy the due diligence requirement. Courts examine what the prosecution actually did to prevent the problem, not just whether the problem was foreseeable.
Shorter Deadlines If You’re in Custody
A defendant held in jail gets a second, tighter set of deadlines under CPL 30.30(2). These run alongside the subdivision 1 limits and provide a different remedy: release rather than dismissal. If the prosecution is not ready within these windows, the defendant must be released on bail or on their own recognizance:
- 90 days in custody on a felony.
- 30 days on a misdemeanor carrying more than three months in jail.
- 15 days on a misdemeanor carrying three months or less.
- Five days on a violation.
Missing a subdivision 1 deadline ends the case. Missing a subdivision 2 deadline gets the defendant out of jail, but the charges remain. For someone sitting in a cell on a felony, the 90-day release clock is often the more pressing number.
Filing the Motion and What Dismissal Means
A speedy trial motion to dismiss goes under CPL 170.30(1)(e) in local criminal court for misdemeanors and violations, or under CPL 210.20(1)(g) in superior court for indicted cases.5New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 170.30 – Motion to Dismiss Information, Simplified Information, Prosecutor’s Information or Misdemeanor Complaint6New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 210.20 – Motion to Dismiss or Reduce Indictment The motion has to be made before trial begins or a guilty plea is entered. Waiting too long waives the right.
The motion rises or falls on a day-by-day accounting of the entire case. Every court appearance gets examined: who requested the adjournment, how long it lasted, and whether it falls into an excludable category. Ambiguous court minutes tend to be charged to the prosecution, which is why transcripts matter so much. The prosecution files opposition arguing that specific periods should be excluded, and if there are factual disputes about who caused a delay, the court may hold a hearing to resolve them.
If the chargeable time exceeds the deadline, dismissal follows. New York’s sealing statutes generally require the record of the dismissed case to be sealed afterward. A speedy trial dismissal is one of the cleanest outcomes available in a criminal case: it doesn’t depend on proving innocence or winning at trial, only on holding the government to the deadlines the statute sets.