Brooklyn Robbery Lawyer

Robbery is forcible stealing, and every degree of it is a violent felony in New York. These cases are prosecuted aggressively in Kings County Supreme Court and they frequently rest on the weakest form of evidence in the criminal justice system: eyewitness identification. Amel Spahija prosecuted robbery cases as an ADA and now defends them, and identification is usually where they break. If you are facing this charge in Brooklyn, call 646-453-4001 for a free, confidential consultation, available 24 hours a day.

New York Robbery Charges

Penal Law Article 160 defines three degrees:

PL §160.05, Robbery 3rd Degree: Class D felony. Forcible stealing with no aggravating factor. Up to 7 years.
PL §160.10, Robbery 2nd Degree: Class C violent felony. Aided by another person, causing injury, or displaying what appears to be a firearm. Up to 15 years.
PL §160.15, Robbery 1st Degree: Class B violent felony. Serious physical injury or an actual deadly weapon. Up to 25 years with a 5 year mandatory minimum.

What Is at Stake

First and second degree robbery are violent felonies with mandatory state prison minimums. Even third degree carries real prison exposure. A robbery conviction also creates a violent predicate that doubles the stakes of any future case. The charge level, and whether the display or injury elements actually hold, are where the fight lives.

Defenses to Brooklyn Robbery Charges

Identification challenges. Show ups, lineups, and photo arrays are attacked at a Wade hearing. Cross racial, nighttime, stranger identifications are notoriously unreliable.
Element attacks. Displaying what appears to be a firearm is a specific legal standard. So is serious physical injury. If the element fails, the degree drops.
No forcible taking. A theft without force is larceny, not robbery. The difference is years of mandatory prison.
Alibi and cell site evidence. Location records frequently contradict identifications.
Video timeline reconstruction. Brooklyn's camera coverage lets us rebuild the incident frame by frame.

What Happens After the Arrest

Robbery cases are arraigned at 120 Schermerhorn Street, indicted quickly, and litigated in Kings County Supreme Court at 320 Jay Street. Bail is contested hard given the violent felony designation. The Wade identification hearing and the grand jury decision are the two early battlegrounds, and both happen fast. Early counsel matters more in robbery cases than almost any other charge.

Related Charges We Defend

Brooklyn cases rarely involve a single charge. Prosecutors stack counts, and this one often travels with burglary, assault charges and weapons charges. When a case carries several counts, the defense has to answer all of them at once rather than one at a time. You can see every charge we defend in Brooklyn or read how felony and misdemeanor levels differ.

Why a Former Prosecutor Matters

As a former Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn and Staten Island, Amel Spahija evaluated cases exactly like yours from the other side of the table. He knows how the DA's office weighs the evidence, when it reduces charges, and where its cases break. Read about the former prosecutor advantage, then see our recent Brooklyn case results.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes a robbery first degree instead of third?

Aggravating elements. A deadly weapon or serious physical injury makes it first degree. An accomplice, an injury, or the display of an apparent firearm makes it second degree. Without those, forcible stealing is third degree.

The complainant identified me from a photo. Is that enough?

Photo identifications are challenged at a Wade hearing, and suggestive procedures get identifications suppressed. Stranger identifications are the leading cause of wrongful convictions, and courts know it.

Is there mandatory prison for robbery?

First degree carries a 5 year mandatory minimum and second degree carries 3.5 years for most defendants. Reducing the degree is often the core defense objective.

Should I testify in the grand jury?

Sometimes, and it can end a case early. It is a high stakes decision that depends entirely on the evidence, and it must be made with counsel within days of arrest.

Free Consultation

The earlier we get involved, the more options exist. Call 646-453-4001 for a free consultation with a a former Brooklyn prosecutor, or book 30 minutes with Amel directly.