Title: Menacing in the Third Degree: New York Penal Law 120.15 | NY Criminal Defense Lawyers
Headings: Menacing in the Third Degree: New York Penal Law 120.15
Menacing in the Third Degree: New York Penal Law 120.15
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Content: While you would serve this jail sentence in a county facility (such as Rikers Island or the Westchester County Jail in Valhalla) and not in a State prison, any confinement would certainly be unwelcomed. Third Degree Menacing: Defining New York Penal Law 120.15
You are guilty of Penal Law 120.15 when by physical menace (a term that is defined further by legal decisions), you intentionally place or even just attempt to place another person in fear of death, imminent serious physical injury or physical injury. Without defining each element of this crime, it is worth examining a few of them. First, "physical menace" must be more than only words. There needs to be a physical component and act associated with it. You need not have a gun or a knife, but kicking or swinging at another person would satisfy this element. Second, the scope of the fear, ie, death to physical injury, is quite large. Dealing with the lowest threshold, "physical injury," one must only sustain an injury resulting in substantial pain. In the context of PL 120.15, the injury actually need not occur, but only fear that you would cause that person a bruise, welt, cut lip or similar low level injury that causes substantial pain.