Information, misdemeanor complaint and felony complaint; form and content

§ 100.15 Information, misdemeanor complaint and felony complaint; form

and content.

1. An information, a misdemeanor complaint and a felony complaint
must each specify the name of the court with which it is filed and the
title of the action, and must be subscribed and verified by a person
known as the "complainant." The complainant may be any person having
knowledge, whether personal or upon information and belief, of the
commission of the offense or offenses charged. Each instrument must
contain an accusatory part and a factual part. The complainant's
verification of the instrument is deemed to apply only to the factual
part thereof and not to the accusatory part.

2. The accusatory part of each such instrument must designate the
offense or offenses charged. As in the case of an indictment, and
subject to the rules of joinder applicable to indictments, two or more
offenses may be charged in separate counts. Also as in the case of an
indictment, such instrument may charge two or more defendants provided
that all such defendants are jointly charged with every offense alleged
therein.

3. The factual part of such instrument must contain a statement of
the complainant alleging facts of an evidentiary character supporting or
tending to support the charges. Where more than one offense is charged,
the factual part should consist of a single factual account applicable
to all the counts of the accusatory part. The factual allegations may
be based either upon personal knowledge of the complainant or upon
information and belief. Nothing contained in this section, however,
limits or affects the requirement, prescribed in subdivision one of
section 100.40, that in order for an information or a count thereof to
be sufficient on its face, every element of the offense charged and the
defendant's commission thereof must be supported by non-hearsay
allegations of such information and/or any supporting depositions.

4. Where a felony complaint charges a violent felony offense defined
in section 70.02 of the penal law and such offense is an armed felony as
defined in subdivision forty-one of section 1.20,

(a) the accusatory part of the instrument must designate the offense
as an armed felony, and (b) the factual part of the instrument must
allege facts of an evidentiary character supporting or tending to
support such designation.