§ 170.10 Arraignment upon information, simplified traffic information,\n prosecutor's information or misdemeanor complaint;\n defendant's presence, defendant's rights, court's\n instructions and bail matters.\n 1. Following the filing with a local criminal court of an information,\na simplified information, a prosecutor's information or a misdemeanor\ncomplaint, the defendant must be arraigned thereon. The defendant must\nappear personally at such arraignment except under the following\ncircumstances:\n (a) In any case where a simplified information is filed and a\nprocedure is provided by law which is applicable to all offenses charged\nin such simplified information and, if followed, would dispense with an\narraignment or personal appearance of the defendant, nothing contained\nin this section affects the validity of such procedure or requires such\npersonal appearance;\n (b) In any case in which the defendant's appearance is required by a\nsummons or an appearance ticket, the court in its discretion may, for\ngood cause shown, permit the defendant to appear by counsel instead of\nin person.\n 2. Upon any arraignment at which the defendant is personally present,\nthe court must immediately inform him, or cause him to be informed in\nits presence, of the charge or charges against him and must furnish him\nwith a copy of the accusatory instrument.\n 3. The defendant has the right to the aid of counsel at the\narraignment and at every subsequent stage of the action. If he appears\nupon such arraignment without counsel, he has the following rights:\n (a) To an adjournment for the purpose of obtaining counsel; and\n (b) To communicate, free of charge, by letter or by telephone provided\nby the law enforcement facility where the defendant is held to a phone\nnumber located in the United States, or Puerto Rico, for the purposes of\nobtaining counsel and informing a relative or friend that he or she has\nbeen charged with an offense; and\n (c) To have counsel assigned by the court if he is financially unable\nto obtain the same; except that this paragraph does not apply where the\naccusatory instrument charges a traffic infraction or infractions only.\n 4. Except as provided in subdivision five, the court must inform the\ndefendant:\n (a) Of his rights as prescribed in subdivision three; and the court\nmust not only accord him opportunity to exercise such rights but must\nitself take such affirmative action as is necessary to effectuate them;\nand\n (b) Where a traffic infraction or a misdemeanor relating to traffic is\ncharged, that a judgment of conviction for such offense would in\naddition to subjecting the defendant to the sentence provided therefor\nrender his license to drive a motor vehicle and his certificate of\nregistration subject to suspension and revocation as prescribed by law\nand that a plea of guilty to such offense constitutes a conviction\nthereof to the same extent as a verdict of guilty after trial; and\n (c) Where the accusatory instrument is a simplified traffic\ninformation, that the defendant has a right to have a supporting\ndeposition filed, as provided in section 100.25; and\n (d) Where the accusatory instrument is a misdemeanor complaint, that\nthe defendant may not be prosecuted thereon or required to enter a plea\nthereto unless he consents to the same, and that in the absence of such\nconsent such misdemeanor complaint will for prosecution purposes have to\nbe replaced and superseded by an information; and\n (e) Where an information, a simplified information, a prosecutor's\ninformation, a misdemeanor complaint, a felony complaint or an\nindictment charges harassment in the second degree, as defined in\nsection 240.26 of the penal law, if there is a judgment of conviction\nfor such offense and such offense is determined to have been committed\nagainst a member of the same family or household as the defendant, as\ndefined in subdivision one of section 530.11
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