Robbery in the Second Degree: NY Penal Law § 160.10.

Robbery in the second degree is New York Penal Law § 160.10 (PL 160.10) - a class C violent felony. Because NY Penal Law 160.10 is a class C felony listed in PL 70.02's violent felony offense schedule, it carries a mandatory prison sentence: three and a half to fifteen years for a first felony offender. There is no probation-only outcome on a straight 160.10 conviction.

What makes it 2nd degree robbery rather than third

All robbery in New York starts from forcible stealing - larceny plus the use or threatened immediate use of physical force. That baseline is robbery in the third degree (PL 160.05), a class D felony. A charge of 2nd degree robbery arises when one of the statutory aggravators is added. Robbery in the second degree NY prosecutions almost always turn on which of these the government can prove:

• Aided by another person actually present. The most commonly charged theory - two or more people acting together.
• Causes physical injury to a non-participant during the robbery or immediate flight.
• Displays what appears to be a firearm. Appearance is enough; it need not be real or operable, though that fact matters at sentencing and in negotiation.
• The property is a motor vehicle taken from its operator or passenger.

So the ladder runs: robbery 3rd degree NY (PL 160.05, class D), robbery in the second degree (PL 160.10, class C), and robbery in the first degree (PL 160.15, class B). Each step up adds an element and roughly doubles the exposure.

Sentencing under PL 160.10

Robbery second degree NY sentencing is driven by PL 70.02, because NY Penal Law 160.10 class C felony counts are violent felony offenses under the NYS PL robbery scheme:

• First felony offender: determinate sentence of 3.5 to 15 years, plus post-release supervision.
• Second felony offender: 5 to 15 years.
• Second violent felony offender: 7 to 15 years.

Determinate means a fixed number, not a range the parole board resolves. That is why the negotiation on a robbery 2 degree case is usually about the count - whether it stays a 160.10 or comes down to a 160.05, or to grand larceny or assault instead - rather than about the number attached to it.

For example

As Shannon was walking home from an after-work party late one evening, Thomas confronted her on a dark street. He had a knife in his hand, and he showed it to her as he demanded her purse. Hassan stood at the corner, serving as a lookout while Thomas accosted and robbed her. Both Thomas and Hassan could face prosecution for robbery in the second degree - Hassan because an accomplice who is actually present is the aggravator that lifts the charge out of the third degree, even though he never touched the victim.

The physical injury defence

Where the charge rests on the victim having been injured, the definition does real work. Under NY Penal Law § 10.00(9), a “physical injury” means impairment of physical condition or substantial pain - it is not a small cut, and not a bruise that fades in a day or two. Prosecutors charge second degree on thin injury evidence more often than they should, and the statutory definition is the answer to it.

The other two defences follow the elements: whether a second person was actually present and actually aiding, and whether what was displayed was displayed at all. On a firearm-display theory, it is also a defence that the object was not a firearm - though in New York that reduces rather than eliminates the count.

Offences that are related

• Robbery in the first degree: New York Penal Code § 160.15
• Robbery in the third degree: New York Penal Code § 160.05
• Burglary in the second degree: New York Penal Code § 140.25
• Criminal possession of stolen property in the second degree: New York Penal Code § 165.52
• Petit larceny: New York Penal Code § 155.25

Where these cases are defended

Three places, in order. Identification, because robberies are stranger cases far more often than not, and lineup and photo-array procedure is litigable. The force element, because a taking that involved no force or threat is a larceny, not a robbery - a distinction worth years. And the aggravator: whether the second person was actually present and actually aiding, whether the injury meets the statutory definition of physical injury, whether anything was displayed at all.

Related offenses often charged alongside or instead: burglary 2nd degree NY (PL 140.25), grand larceny, and assault. If a 160.10 is on the paperwork, the mandatory-prison exposure makes this a case to bring counsel into immediately.