CPL § 60.22

Rules of evidence; corroboration of accomplice testimony · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 60.22 Rules of evidence; corroboration of accomplice testimony.

1. A defendant may not be convicted of any offense upon the testimony of an accomplice unsupported by corroborative evidence tending to connect the defendant with the commission of such offense.

2. An "accomplice" means a witness in a criminal action who, according to evidence adduced in such action, may reasonably be considered to have participated in:

(a) The offense charged; or

(b) An offense based upon the same or some of the same facts or conduct which constitute the offense charged.

3. A witness who is an accomplice as defined in subdivision two is no less such because a prosecution or conviction of himself would be barred or precluded by some defense or exemption, such as infancy, immunity or previous prosecution, amounting to a collateral impediment to such a prosecution or conviction, not affecting the conclusion that such witness engaged in the conduct constituting the offense with the mental state required for the commission thereof.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CPL/60.22

In plain English

(1) ★ A defendant may not be convicted on an accomplice’s testimony alone; other evidence must tend to connect the defendant to the offense.
(2) An accomplice is a witness who may reasonably be considered to have participated in the charged offense or in an offense based on the same or some of the same facts or conduct.
(3) The witness remains an accomplice even if a collateral bar—such as infancy, immunity, or a previous prosecution—prevents that witness’s own prosecution or conviction, so long as the witness engaged in the conduct with the required mental state.

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.