Second Degree Endangering the Welfare of a Vulnerable or Disabled Person: NY PL 260.32

A class “E” felony carrying with it a potential punishment and sentence for as much as four years in a New York State prison, a trivial crime Endangering the Welfare of a Vulnerable Elderly Person, or an Incompetent or Physically Disabled Person in the Second Degree is not. To the contrary, a felony offense, there are few attorneys, whether employed as prosecutors or serving you as your defense counsel, who will fail to make it readily apparent that New York Penal Law 260.32 is a crime to be reckoned with.

• Endangering the Welfare of a Vulnerable or Disabled Person Information Page
• First Degree Endangering the Welfare of a Vulnerable or Disabled Person: NY PL 260.34

Depending on the allegations of your arrest for violating NY Penal Law 260.32, there may be multiple subsections charged on your felony complaint or indictment. No matter what theory you face in the Grand Jury or later at trial, each offense shares some common elements. That is, you are, and must be, a legally defined “caregiver” for individual deemed a vulnerable elderly person or incompetent or physically disabled person. Assuming prosecutors can establish the nature of your relationship with a complainant, you must then commit or behave in one of following manners:

1. You cause the person in your care a physical injury, defined in part as substantial pain, while having the intent to inflict this type of harm.
2. You cause this level of physical injury due to your reckless behavior.
3. You again inflict a physical injury but do so due to criminal negligence. Additionally, you must cause a physical injury by means of deadly weapon or dangerous instrument.
4. You abuse your alleged victim by exposing him or her to sexual contact without their respective consent. Keep in mind that a complainant’s lack of consent need not be the word “no” or something similar. Instead, lack of consent can and is based in either forcible compulsion or an inability or incapacity to consent. This last section has many nuances depending on many factors. If applicable, an affirmative defense exists protecting the accused where he or she was unaware of the facts or conditions responsible for an incapacity to consent.

Irrespective of the particular subsection(s) of PL 260.32 you find yourself facing in a criminal court, it is fairly common to find yourself charged with lesser or greater crimes. For example, if you commit certain sexual offenses, a conviction may leave you exposed to a longer prison sentence and even Sex Offender Registration. On the lesser side, a prosecution for PL 260.32(1) would or could also include a charge of Third Degree Assault. Similarly, where you are arraigned for committing PL 260.32(3), a charge of Fourth Degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon may be added to your felony complaint. Simply, the defense you and your lawyer pursue and ultimately implement may require that you answer to multiple crimes.

Whether you are arrested for Endangering the Welfare of a Vulnerable Elderly Person, or an Incompetent or Physically Disabled Person in the Second Degree in a borough of New York City such as Manhattan, Brooklyn or Queens, or you arrested by the New York State Police or County Police in the Hudson Valley’s counties of Dutchess, Putnam, Westchester, Rockland or Orange, you need to take the same steps to protect yourself. Failure to identify and put the best defense into motion can, and likely will, leave you branded with an indelible and permanent record, facing imprisonment and begrudgingly taking ownership of the numerous long-term direct and collateral consequences.

To better learn about Endangering the Welfare of a Vulnerable Elderly Person, or an Incompetent or Physically Disabled Person in the Second Degree to best mitigate your conduct or exonerate you completely, review the linked pages. Once armed with knowledge, contact the criminal defense team and former Manhattan prosecutors at Saland Law to put the criminal justice system in your rear-view mirror.

Call the New York criminal defense attorneys and former Manhattan domestic violence prosecutors at 212.312.7129 or contact us online today