New York City Defense Attorneys Working Hard to Clear Your Criminal Solicitation Charge
What is Criminal Solicitation?
Solicitation is the legal term applied to those actions wherein an individual offers money or some other form of inducement to another individual for the purpose of persuading the individual to participate in or commit a criminal act such as the purchase of controlled substances.
Solicitation can be a misdemeanor or a felony depending upon the type of criminal activity being solicited. In the case of a crime like solicitation for drug sale which many courts tend to view as a social issue or problem instead of a criminal offense, the solicitation penalties would be less severe than say solicitation to commit robbery.
New York Law
Criminal solicitation is defined by New York State law as requesting or demanding someone to participate in criminal activity with the intention of facilitating or contributing to the carrying out of that crime. Normally, criminal solicitation refers to the solicitation of prostitution, the criminal offense of soliciting someone to commit prostitution.
Elements
To be found guilty of solicitation, a person must:
- Request that an individual participate in criminal behavior, and
- Have the intent to engage in criminal conduct with that individual
No Crime Committed?
It must be remembered that the solicited crime need not be committed. An individual can be guilty of solicitation even if their request is not accepted. An example: An undercover member of law enforcement receives a demand to participate in prostitution. The supposed client can be convicted of soliciting, even though, no prostitution occurred.
Defense Strategies
As in other criminal cases, an individual accused of criminal solicitation can argue that they did not commit the act.
In some instances, a person is not liable for solicitation if they recant their intention to commit the following crime and notifies the other individual that the request is now eliminated.
Sometimes, evidence from the person propositioned, in addition to their testimony, is required to convict someone accused of criminal solicitation.
Criminal solicitation Penalties
As someone can solicit for the commission of a variety of criminal acts, punishment can vary across a wide spectrum. Penalties grow depending on the degree of felony that was solicited.
Whether you are charged with Criminal Solicitation alone or in conjunction with another crime, our top NYC criminal attorneys can work to have the charges mitigated, dismissed, or pled down.
As a felony, a guilty verdict for solicitation can have major life-consequences.
An experienced attorney from Bukh Law Firm can help someone charged and a call to Bukh Law Firm should be the first thing you do if charged with criminal solicitation.
