Legal Question in Criminal Law in New York

Re: criminal charges

There are certain circumstances when the charges can be reduced or where the DA can ask the court to submit "lesser included" charges to the jury.

A lesser included offense shares some, but not all, of the elements of a greater criminal offense. Therefore, the greater offense cannot be committed without also committing the lesser offense. For example, manslaughter may be a lesser included offense of murder, assault can be a lesser included offense of rape, and trespass is often a lesser included offense of burglary. It depends on the charges and I would have to know more specific information in order to give you a full answer.