CPL § 150.50

Appearance ticket; filing a local criminal court accusatory instrument; dismissal of insufficient instrument · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 150.50 Appearance ticket; filing a local criminal court accusatory

instrument; dismissal of insufficient instrument.

1. A police officer or other public servant who has issued and served an appearance ticket must, at or before the time such appearance ticket is returnable, file or cause to be filed with the local criminal court in which it is returnable a local criminal court accusatory instrument charging the person named in such appearance ticket with the offense specified therein; provided, however, that no separate accusatory instrument shall be required to be filed for an appearance ticket issued for a parking infraction which conforms to the requirements set forth in paragraph (b) of subdivision one of section 1.20 of this chapter. Nothing herein contained shall authorize the use of a simplified information when not authorized by law.

2. If such accusatory instrument is not sufficient on its face, as prescribed in section 100.40, and if the court is satisfied that on the basis of the available facts or evidence it would be impossible to draw and file an accusatory instrument which is sufficient on its face, it must dismiss such accusatory instrument.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CPL/150.50

In plain English

Whoever issued an appearance ticket must file the formal charge with the court by the return date.

(1) The police officer or public servant who issued and served the ticket must file, at or before the ticket's return time, a local criminal court accusatory instrument charging the named offense with the court where it is returnable. ★ A parking-infraction ticket meeting § 1.20(1)(b) needs no separate instrument. Nothing here permits a simplified information when one is not authorized by law.
(2) If the instrument is not sufficient on its face under § 100.40 and the court is satisfied a sufficient one could not be drawn from the available facts, it must dismiss the instrument. ★

Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.

In print

This provision appears in Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 2 — The Court Officer: Criminal Procedure Law; Volume 2 — Your Career: Criminal Procedure in Plain English.