The Fifth Judicial District is home for these courts. Appeals from Lowville are argued before the Fourth Department, Appellate Division. Which court gets a case depends on how grave the charge is:

• Town and village courts handle the bulk of local criminal work. Trials of misdemeanors, violations and traffic tickets happen in those rooms. With a felony, these justices only open the case, at arraignment and the preliminary hearing.
• County Court can hear any crime in the county. In practice it takes felonies after a grand jury indicts.
• Family Court hears cases about children and families, including youth charged as juvenile delinquents.

Some plain definitions help. A felony is a grave crime with state prison on the table. The law ranks felonies in five classes, A (worst) through E. Misdemeanors are smaller crimes, sorted into class A or B. The longest jail stay for one is 364 days, served locally. Violations rank below crimes, with a 15-day jail limit (Penal Law § 70.15).

One building, the County Courthouse at 7660 North State Street, Lowville, NY 13367, holds every court above the town level. Doors are open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.

• County Court and Supreme Court: 315-570-2435. A single judge serves as the County, Family and Surrogate's Court judge.
• Family Court: 315-570-2440
• Surrogate's Court: 315-570-2438
• Commissioner of Jurors: 315-570-2439
• County Clerk: 315-376-5334, same address

The District Attorney and Probation work in this building too. The Public Defender's Office is next door. Court phone numbers have been changing, so if a line fails, try the state court system's county page or ask the jail.

The county has no city, so no city court. Each town has a justice court, and the village of Lyons Falls keeps its own. These courts hold arraignments for every kind of charge and try misdemeanors and lesser cases. Court nights and office hours differ from town to town, so call before you drive over.

• Croghan Town Court, Town Office Building, 9882 State Route 126, Suite B, Castorland, NY 13620, 315-346-1272
• Denmark Town Court, 3707 Roberts Road, Carthage, NY 13619, 315-493-1302
• Diana Town Court, 5959 Old State Extension Road, Harrisville, NY 13648, 315-543-2312
• Greig Town Court, 5186 Greig Road, Greig, NY 13345, 315-634-5709 (extension 5)
• Harrisburg Town Court, 3157 Roberts Road, Carthage, NY 13619. Montague Town Court gets mail at P.O. Box 208, Lowville, NY 13367. One line serves both: 315-688-4303
• Lewis Town Court, 1039 State Route 26, West Leyden, NY 13489. Osceola Town Court, 1711 Florence Road, Camden, NY 13316. The state lists one phone for both: 315-897-7819
• Leyden Town Court, P.O. Box 116, Port Leyden, NY 13433, 315-348-8181
• Lowville Town Court, 5533 Bostwick Street, Lowville, NY 13367, 315-376-8070
• Lyonsdale Town Court, 3364 Pearl Street, Port Leyden, NY 13433, 315-348-6157
• Martinsburg Town Court, P.O. Box 16, Martinsburg, NY 13404, 315-376-2299
• New Bremen Town Court, 8420 State Route 812, Lowville, NY 13367, 315-246-1590
• Pinckney Town Court: the county's 2026 directory showed the justice post as vacant. The town office can say where Pinckney cases are heard: 587 County Route 194, Copenhagen, NY 13626, 315-408-5032
• Turin Town Court, 6312 East Main Street, Turin, NY 13473, 315-348-6073
• Watson Town Court, Town Barn, 6971 Number Four Road, Lowville, NY 13367, 315-376-3866
• West Turin Town Court and Lyons Falls Village Court, 6805 McAlpine Street, Lyons Falls, NY 13368 (mail to P.O. Box 703), 315-348-5553

For mailing addresses and court nights, the Unified Court System keeps a town and village court finder. The County Court clerk at 315-570-2435 can also point you to the right justice.

Arraignment comes first, normally in a town or village courtroom. The justice reads out the charges and makes sure a defense lawyer is there, at no cost for those who can't pay. New York requires defense counsel at arraignment (Executive Law § 832(4)).

Next the justice decides release through a securing order. For most charges, that means release with or without conditions. Bail or remand is possible only for the serious charges the law lists (CPL 510.10). Class A felonies, and people with two felony convictions already, are off limits for a town justice's release decision. County Court makes that call (CPL 530.20(2)).

Jail on a felony complaint starts a countdown of 120 hours, stretched to 144 over a weekend or holiday. When it runs out with no hearing underway and no grand jury vote, the person must be released (CPL 180.80).

Misdemeanor files stay with the town or village justice the whole way. The DA must hand over its evidence soon after arraignment: 20 days when the accused is locked up, 35 days when free (CPL 245.10). Motions, plea offers and maybe a trial follow.

Under CPL 30.30, the DA's readiness deadline is 90 days for a class A misdemeanor charge and 60 for class B. The most a court can impose:

• For a class A misdemeanor, just under a year behind bars, plus as much as $1,000
• For class B, three months, plus as much as $500
• For a violation, 15 days, plus as much as $250

Probation is another route, set at two or three years on the higher class or one year on the lower. A conditional discharge is lighter still: twelve months of court rules without a probation officer (Penal Law §§ 65.00, 65.05). The town court holding the file can give the next date.

A felony starts in a town court and ends, if it is not settled earlier, in County Court:

1. Felony complaint and arraignment in the local court, with a lawyer present.
2. Preliminary hearing in that court, unless prosecutors skip it and present to a grand jury. A held person must be freed if neither happens in time (CPL 180.80).
3. Grand jury. The accused can testify there, but only after serving written notice on the DA (CPL 190.50(5)).
4. Indictment and County Court arraignment. The case now belongs to County Court.
5. Evidence sharing, motions and offers. Prosecutors get six months to declare readiness (CPL 30.30).
6. Trial or plea, then sentencing.

The ceiling for each class, from top down, is life, then 25, 15, 7 and 4 years (Penal Law § 70.00). On the two lowest classes, a judge who finds prison unduly harsh may hand down a year or less in county jail instead.

Yes. Violent felonies carry a fixed prison term, then a period of supervision on the outside (Penal Law § 70.02). Robbery in the first degree is one example, and so is assault in the second degree.

The fixed terms climb with the class. At the bottom, class E, the range runs from a year and a half up to four years. At the top, class B, it runs from five years to a quarter century. Classes C and D sit between.

Because the law lists them as qualifying offenses, judges may require bail or order remand (CPL 510.10(4)). In family violence cases, the court can add a temporary order of protection, such as a stay-away order, when it issues the securing order (CPL 530.12). Violating an order that protects a family or household member is itself a charge where bail is allowed (CPL 510.10(4)).

The District Attorney's Office prosecutes all criminal cases. It works out of the County Courthouse, 7660 North State Street, Lowville, NY 13367, 315-376-5390. The office says it handles about 1,200 cases a year across County Court and the local justice courts.

The Public Defender's Office represents people who can't afford a lawyer. Find it at 7659 North State Street, Lowville, NY 13367, 315-874-4201. The county's directory also lists 315-376-7543 for this office.

Eligibility is presumed, under the state's own standards, for anyone with income beneath 250% of federal poverty guidelines. Being in custody counts in their favor too. A lawyer should be assigned at once, even before the money check is done. People who want to hire privately can call the state bar's referral line, 800-342-3661.

A call to the right court is the quickest answer. Jot down the accused's legal name and birth date before dialing.

• Indicted felony: County Court, 315-570-2435, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• For an arraignment or misdemeanor, call the town or village court in the list above.
• If you can't tell which court has it, the jail at 315-376-3511 can usually say.

The state's WebCrims site is built for New York City, Long Island, a handful of downstate and Erie County courts, and roughly 60 city courts. It lists only open cases with a coming date. For courts in this county, calling is the reliable way.

Sheriff's deputies serve warrants across the county at 315-376-3511. Inside the village of Lowville, village police at 315-376-6511 can help. New York State Police list fugitives on their Wanted and Missing page. Ask the Sheriff, or the court you think signed it, whether a warrant exists. For most missed dates, the judge must first give the person or the lawyer 48 hours to come in on their own (CPL 510.50). Clearing one starts with a lawyer. Walk into the issuing court with your attorney, or phone it to request a fresh date. County Court signs felony warrants. It sits at 7660 North State Street, Lowville, NY 13367, 315-570-2435.

Federal prosecutions from the county are heard in the Syracuse Division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York. The clerk is at the James M. Hanley Federal Building, 100 South Clinton Street, Syracuse, NY 13261, 315-234-8500, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

• At the first appearance a judge reads the charges, appoints a lawyer if needed and holds a detention hearing (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• Anyone held on a federal charge is in U.S. Marshals Service custody. Its district office is on the 10th Floor of the same building, 315-473-7601.
• U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services in Syracuse writes the release report: 315-234-8700.
• Federal dockets live on PACER. It charges a dime a page, never more than $3 for one document.
• After sentencing, the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator shows where the person is.

The state case keeps going on its own schedule. A detainer affects only what happens when the state is ready to let the person go.

1. ICE sends Form I-247A. It requests custody of the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
2. If ICE takes custody, the person comes under its Buffalo Field Office, 130 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14202, 716-843-7600. ICE runs a detention site called the Buffalo (Batavia) Service Processing Center, 4250 Federal Drive, Batavia, NY 14020, 585-344-6500.
3. Find a detained person through the ICE Online Detainee Locator.

State law sets limits on this. Per People ex rel. Wells v DeMarco (2018), New York law grants its local officers no power to arrest someone for a civil immigration matter. Executive Law § 170-k, signed into the budget on May 27, 2026, voided all 287(g) contracts starting August 25, 2026. Civil Rights Law § 28 shields people on their way to court, inside it, or headed home: civil arrests there need a judicial warrant or court order. Share immigration concerns with the defense lawyer early, since a plea can affect status.

Terms longer than a year belong to DOCCS, the state prison system. Until the county declares the person state ready, they remain in the local jail, and DOCCS must accept them inside ten business days. Reception staff do health and dental checks, program testing and a security rating before choosing a prison.

• Type an exact last name plus birth year, or a DIN, into the DOCCS Incarcerated Lookup.
• For parole questions, try the Parolee Lookup.
• Visiting and mail details for each prison: our New York state prisons guide.

The child's age steers the case. Family Court usually takes charges against children 12 to 17 as juvenile delinquency matters, when the act would be a crime if an adult did it (Family Court Act § 301.2).

• Ages 16 and 17: a felony begins in the Youth Part. If no violence is charged, it usually heads to Family Court; only extraordinary circumstances proven by the DA keep it in the Youth Part (CPL 722.23).
• Ages 13 to 15: a short list of the worst charges, murder among them, may go to adult court. These are called juvenile offender cases (CPL 1.20).
• Parents: police must contact them right away, and questioning must follow strict rules (Family Court Act § 305.2).

Adolescent offenders can't be held in an adult jail. To find a young person's location and hearing date, call Family Court at 315-570-2440 or Probation at 315-376-5358.

Victims can reach the District Attorney's Office at 315-376-5390 to share their views before a case is settled. That line also handles victim questions.

• Orders of protection can be issued in criminal court in family violence cases (CPL 530.12).
• Compensation: the state Office of Victim Services may help with medical bills, counseling and funeral costs. Call 800-247-8035.
• Custody alerts: sign up on VINELink, or call VINE at 888-846-3469.
• Crisis line: the 24 Hour HELP Hotline, 315-376-4357.

Yes. The state's treatment court list includes one at Lewis County Court, 7660 North State Street, Lowville, NY 13367, 315-570-2741. Call to ask what kind of program it runs and who can join. In New York's drug courts, people whose addiction is part of the offense may choose court-supervised treatment under a signed agreement.

New York's Judicial Diversion law (CPL Article 216) can also steer some felony drug cases into treatment. Ask the defense lawyer early whether the person may qualify.

Often, yes. When a case closes with a dismissal, an acquittal or another win for the accused, the file is sealed (CPL 160.50). A conviction for only a violation is sealed too (CPL 160.55).

The Clean Slate Act took effect November 16, 2024. It seals many misdemeanor convictions three years after release and many felonies after eight, if no new charge is pending (CPL 160.57). Sex crimes and nearly all class A felonies don't qualify. A person may also apply to seal up to two older convictions after ten years (CPL 160.59).