CPL § 710.50

Motion to suppress evidence; in what courts made  ·  as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 710.50 Motion to suppress evidence; in what courts made.

1. The particular courts in which motions to suppress evidence must be made are as follows:

(a) If an indictment is pending in a superior court, or if the defendant has been held by a local criminal court for the action of a grand jury, the motion must be made in the superior court in which such indictment is pending or which impaneled or will impanel such grand jury. If the superior court which will impanel such grand jury is the supreme court, the motion may, in the alternative, be made in the county court of the county in which the action is pending;

(b) If a currently undetermined felony complaint is pending in a local criminal court, the motion must be made in the superior court which would have trial jurisdiction of the offense or offenses charged were an indictment therefor to result;

(c) If an information, a simplified information, a prosecutor's information or a misdemeanor complaint is pending in a local criminal court, the motion must be made in such court.

2. If after a motion has been made in and determined by a superior court a local criminal court acquires trial jurisdiction of the action by reason of an information, a prosecutor's information or a misdemeanor complaint filed therewith, such superior court's determination is binding upon such local criminal court. If, however, the motion has been made in but not yet determined by the superior court at the time of the filing of such information, prosecutor's information or misdemeanor complaint, the superior court may not determine the motion but must refer it to the local criminal court of trial jurisdiction.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CPL/710.50

In plain English

A suppression motion must be filed in the court selected by the case's current accusatory instrument and posture.

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.