Penal Law § 115.10

Criminal facilitation; no defense · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 115.10 Criminal facilitation; no defense.

It is no defense to a prosecution for criminal facilitation that:

1. The person facilitated was not guilty of the underlying felony owing to criminal irresponsibility or other legal incapacity or exemption, or to unawareness of the criminal nature of the conduct in question or to other factors precluding the mental state required for the commission of such felony; or

2. The person facilitated has not been prosecuted for or convicted of the underlying felony, or has previously been acquitted thereof; or

3. The defendant himself is not guilty of the felony which he facilitated because he did not act with the intent or other culpable mental state required for the commission thereof.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/115.10

In plain English

For criminal facilitation, it is no defense that:

(1) the aided person lacked criminal responsibility, capacity, awareness, or required mental state;
(2) the aided person was not prosecuted or convicted, or was acquitted; or
(3) the defendant lacked the intent or mental state needed to be guilty of the facilitated felony. ★

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 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.