Penal Law § 215.13

Tampering with a witness in the first degree · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 215.13 Tampering with a witness in the first degree.

A person is guilty of tampering with a witness in the first degree when:

1. He intentionally causes serious physical injury to a person for the purpose of obstructing, delaying, preventing or impeding the giving of testimony in a criminal proceeding by such person or another person or for the purpose of compelling such person or another person to swear falsely; or

2. He intentionally causes serious physical injury to a person on account of such person or another person having testified in a criminal proceeding.

Tampering with a witness in the first degree is a class B felony.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/215.13

In plain English

A person commits first-degree witness tampering by intentionally causing serious physical injury:

(1) to block, delay, prevent, or impede testimony in a criminal proceeding, or to force someone to swear falsely; or
(2) because that person or someone else already testified in a criminal proceeding. ★

The offense is a class B 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.