Brooklyn Criminal Defense Lawyer: What The 89 Percent Conviction Rate Means For Your Case
Welcome to Spodek Law Group. Our goal is to give you the reality of criminal defense in Brooklyn - not the sanitized version other lawyers present, not the TV courtroom drama fiction, but the actual truth about what happens when you're facing charges in Kings County.
Here is the uncomfortable number nobody mentions: 89 percent. That's the trial conviction rate in Brooklyn. If you go to trial in Kings County, you have roughly an 11 percent chance of walking away not guilty. Those aren't odds. Those are near-certainty of conviction. And yet lawyers will still tell you they're going to "fight for you in court" like that's the winning strategy. It isn't. In Brooklyn, the fight that matters happens BEFORE trial - in the hallways, at arraignment, during negotiations with prosecutors who are evaluated on finding alternatives to incarceration. If your lawyer doesn't understand that Brooklyn operates differently than anywhere else in New York, you've already lost.
The question isn't whether you can win at trial. For almost nine out of ten people, the answer is no. The question is whether your lawyer knows Brooklyn's system well enough to keep you from ever facing those odds.
The 89 Percent Reality Nobody Mentions
Let that sink in for a moment. Brooklyn prosecutors dont take cases to trial unless they're confident they'll win. The DA's office isn't gambling - they're selecting cases that are essentially pre-determined. When a Brooklyn ADA decides your case is going to trial, they've already calculated that the evidence, the judge assignment, and the jury pool favor conviction. Thats why the number is so high.
Notice the pattern? Roughly 89.5 percent of federal defendants nationwide plead guilty. Thats not becuase everyone is guilty - its because the system creates overwhelming pressure toward plea deals. The trial conviction rate is so high precisely becuase prosecutors only take slam-dunk cases all the way. Every case that might have resulted in acquittal gets resolved earlier in the process. By the time you reach trial, the prosecution has already filtered out there weak cases. Your facing the strongest version of the state's machinery.
Heres the thing most defense attorneys wont tell you: going to trial in Brooklyn often means you've already failed at the part that mattered. The real battle happened weeks or months earlier, during arraignment, during motion practice, during plea negotiations. Trials in Brooklyn aren't where defendants win freedom - there where the prosecution finalizes convictions they've been building since your arrest.
This doesn't mean trials never result in acquittals. Todd Spodek has secured not-guilty verdicts in Brooklyn courtrooms. But those victories came from preparation that started at arraignment, from understanding which prosecutors respond to which arguments, from knowing which judges have which tendencies. The trial was the final step of a strategy that began the moment the case entered the system.
The math is uncomfortable but necesary to understand. If 89 percent of trials end in conviction, and roughly 90 percent of cases resolve through plea deals, only about 1 percent of defendants actualy get acquitted at trial. One percent. The other 99 percent either plead guilty or get convicted. Those arent the odds you want to be facing.
What Brooklyn's Progressive Prosecution Actually Means For You
OK so heres were Brooklyn gets interesting. DA Eric Gonzalez - reelected for his third term in 2025 - has built what he calls a "progressive prosecutor's office." His Justice 2020 initiative explicitly instructs assistant district attorneys to consider non-jail resolutions at EVERY juncture of a case. Incarceration isn't the goal. Its become the alternative.
This matters enormously for your defense strategy. Think about it: Brooklyn prosecutors are literaly evaluated on finding ways NOT to incarcerate people. They've created programs like Project CLEAR, which diverts drug possession cases pre-arraignment - participate in treatment, your case gets declined prosecution, your records get sealed. The 97 percent success rate in Young Adult Court isn't an accident. Its by design.
But heres the part nobody talks about: these programs and policies only work if your lawyer knows they exist and knows how to access them. If you show up with an attorney who's preparing for courtroom battle when the prosecution is looking for reasons to resolve cases without trial, you're speaking different languages. The prosecutor is thinking "how can we avoid incarceration here" and your lawyer is thinking "how can we win at trial" - and trial is where you lose 89 percent of the time.
The irony is almost painfull. Brooklyn has some of the most defendant-friendly prosecution policies in the country, and people still end up convicted becuase their lawyers don't understand how to use them. Gonzalez's office has dismissed over 3,500 marijuana cases. Theyve vacated 25 wrongful convictions through their Conviction Review Unit. They employ immigration attorneys specifically to minimize collateral consequences for non-citizen defendants. This isn't a DA's office looking to lock everyone up. But you'd never know it from how most defense attorneys approach Brooklyn cases.
The Arraignment Trap That Determines Everything
Heres were it gets real. Your arraignment - that first court appearance within 24 hours of arrest - isn't a formality. Its the most important moment of your entire case, and most people dont even realize its happening.
Consider the timeline. You get arrested. Within 24 hours - sometimes much less - you appear before a judge. Bail gets set. Charges get read. Pleas get entered. The entire trajectory of your case gets determined in what might be a 10-minute hearing. And if you dont have a lawyer there who knows what theyre doing, you've already set yourself up for months of uphill battle.
At arraignment, the prosecution is making decisions. They have hundreds of cases. Theres not time to carefully evaluate each one. What there looking for is simple: which cases are worth pursuing, and which cases are more trouble then there worth? If your lawyer is unknown to the courtroom, if theres no one there making arguments for dismissal, if no one points out the weaknesses in the case BEFORE the prosecutor has invested time and resources - your case gets pushed into the pipeline. And once its in the pipeline, theres organizational momentum toward conviction.
Heres what makes Brooklyn's arraignment uniquely important. The speedy trial clock starts ticking at arraignment. Under New York law, prosecutors have 90 days for misdemeanors and 6 months for felonies to bring your case to trial. Miss those deadlines? Case dismissed. The Brooklyn DA's office is handling thousands of cases simultaneously. Deadlines get missed. But only if your lawyer is tracking them obsesively and filing motions the moment violations occur.
Think about that. The prosecutor hasnt spent hours on your case yet. They havent invested energy. At arraignment, its easy for them to let a weak case go. After arraignment, they've committed resources, assigned staff, filed paperwork. Now there sunk cost. Now they're incentivized to follow through. The window for getting your case dismissed or diverted is smallest and most critical in those first 24 hours.
This is why Spodek Law Group provides 24/7 arraignment services. We understand that the brooklyn criminal court system makes its most important decisions in that first day. Miss that window, and your fighting uphill for months. Catch it, and sometimes the case ends before it really begins.
Why Young Adult Court Changes Everything If You Qualify
If your between 18 and 25 years old and facing charges in Brooklyn, theres something you absolutly need to know: 97 percent of people who go through Brooklyn's Young Adult Court come out without a criminal conviction on their record. Ninety-seven percent.
Read that again. If you qualify for Young Adult Court and your lawyer knows how to get you there, you have a 97 percent chance of avoiding a permanent criminal record. That number is basicly the inverse of the trial conviction rate. Instead of 89 percent losing, its 97 percent walking away clean.
Think about what this means for a 22-year-old facing there first criminal charge. Through traditional criminal court, the odds are stacked against them - conviction rates are high, consequences are permanant, future employment and housing become exponentialy harder with a criminal record. But through Young Adult Court, the same person facing the same charges has a 97 percent chance of walking away without that record. Same person. Same charges. Completly different outcome based purely on routing.
But heres the kicker - not every lawyer even mentions Young Adult Court. Some dont know it exists. Some dont know the eligibility requirements or how to argue for placement. Some are so focused on the traditional criminal process that they miss this exit ramp entirely. In Brooklyn criminal defense, the question isnt just "can we win" - its "can we route this case to a track where winning is almost guarenteed."
The eligibility requirements matter. Age is just the starting point. The type of charge matters. Prior criminal history matters. The judges discretion matters. A lawyer who understands these factors can make the argument for Young Adult Court placement effectivly. A lawyer who doesnt understand Brooklyn's system might not even know to ask.
This is what I mean when I say Brooklyn operates differently. Other jurisdictions dont have these alternatives. Other DAs arent structured around avoiding incarceration. But Brooklyn is, and if your lawyer doesnt understand that, your missing oppurtunities that could change your life.
The Immigration Consequences Brooklyn Prosecutors Will Help You Avoid
Heres an irony that still surprises people: the Brooklyn DA's office employs immigration attorneys. Not to help prosecutions - to help defendants avoid deportation.
Sound wierd? Its actually brilliant policy. Gonzalez recognized that criminal convictions carry collateral consequences that can be more devastating then jail time. For non-citizen defendants, even minor pleas can trigger deportation, denial of naturalization, or bars on reentry. So his office created a system were prosecutors are trained on immigration law and advised on how to structure pleas that minimize these consequences.
Think about what this means practically. Your facing charges in Brooklyn. Your not a citizen. The prosecutor is actualy incentivized to find a resolution that doesn't destroy your immigration status. But - and this is crucial - they can only do that if your lawyer asks. If your defense attorney doesnt understand immigration law, doesnt know that the DA's office has immigration counsel available, doesnt know how to request alternative charges that avoid deportation triggers - you could accept a plea that seems reasonable and find yourself in ICE custody.
As Todd Spodek explains to clients facing this situation, the Brooklyn system has built-in protections that other jurisdictions simply dont have. But there passive protections. They dont activate unless your lawyer knows to activate them. This is another reason why generic criminal defense - the lawyer who handles cases in Manhattan, Queens, wherever - often fails Brooklyn defendants. They dont know what Brooklyn makes available.
When Brooklyn Prosecutors Let Cases Go
The Brooklyn DA has demonstrated a willingness to dismiss cases that most jurisdictions would prosecute. In 2021, Gonzalez dismissed 3,578 marijuana cases in a single action - cases that had been pending for years, many because of open warrants that defendants didnt even know about. His Conviction Review Unit has vacated 25 wrongful convictions, some dating back to the 1960s.
What does this tell you? First, that the system makes mistakes. Alot of them. Cases that should never have been brought were brought. People who should never have been convicted were convicted. Second, that Brooklyn's current leadership is willing to acknowledge those mistakes and correct them.
But heres what this really means for your case: if the prosecution IS pursuing your case, theyve made a deliberate choice. This isnt a case that slipped through. They looked at it and decided it was worth prosecuting. You need a lawyer who understands why they made that decision and how to change there calculation.
Sometimes the path to dismissal is technical - speedy trial violations, unlawful search issues, discovery problems. Brooklyn prosecutors have 90 days for misdemeanors, 6 months for felonies. Miss those deadlines, case gets dismissed. But the DA's office is overworked, and deadlines get missed. A lawyer tracking the speedy trial clock obsesively can find oppurtunities that a less meticulous attorney misses.
Sometimes the path is strategic - showing the prosecutor that there case is weaker then they thought, that the evidence has problems, that a jury might not convict. Remember, they dont want to take losing cases to trial. If you can convince them early that this might be a loser, they have incentive to resolve it favorably or dismiss.
What Happens When You Hire The Wrong Kind of Brooklyn Lawyer
Lets talk about the consequence cascade that unfolds when you hire the wrong type of attorney for Brooklyn criminal court.
You find a lawyer who talks tough. Promises to fight. Says theyve never backed down. Sounds good right? Except Brooklyn isn't a fighting arena - its a negotiation ecosystem. That trial-focused attorney walks into court ready to battle, while the prosecutor is looking for reasons to resolve cases without trial. There speaking different languages.
The negotiations fail. Not becuase the case is strong, but becuase your lawyer doesnt know how to speak to Brooklyn prosecutors in terms they respond to. Case heads to trial. You face the 89 percent conviction rate. Jury convicts - not becuase your guilty (though you might be), but because trials in Brooklyn are where prosecutors bring cases they expect to win.
Now comes the trial penalty. Judges impose harsher sentences on defendants who "waste court resources" by going to trial instead of pleading out. That plea offer you rejected? Would have been 2 years probation. The post-trial sentence? 3 to 5 years incarceration. Your fighting lawyer just added years to your punishment.
And the dominos keep falling. Conviction means you lose your job - most employers terminate employees who get convicted of crimes. Without income, you cant pay rent. Eviction follows. Credit destroyed. Family stress compounds. Relationships fracture under the pressure. Your spouse, your kids, your parents - everyone pays the price for a conviction that might have been avoided with different representation.
See the problem? The lawyer who promised to "fight" didnt understand that fighting is what loses cases in Brooklyn. The system is designed for negotiation. The prosecution is incentivized toward resolution. The judges want cases cleared efficently. A lawyer who insists on trial when trial isnt the winning strategy hasnt served you - theyve gambled your future on 11 percent odds.
And heres were it gets permanantly devastating: criminal convictions dont go away. Every job application, every background check, every apartment rental, every professional license. The "fighting" that was supposed to prove your innocence instead locked you into a lifetime of consequences that a Brooklyn-savvy lawyer might have helped you avoid entirely.
How Spodek Law Group Approaches Brooklyn Criminal Defense
At Spodek Law Group, we understand that Brooklyn criminal defense isn't about theatrical courtroom performances. Its about understanding the specific ecosystem of Kings County - the DA's policies, the judge's tendencies, the prosecution's institutional pressures and incentives.
We start at arraignment, often within hours of arrest, because we know thats when the most important decisions happen. We track speedy trial deadlines obsessively. We know which diversion programs exist and how to access them. We understand that DA Gonzalez's office is structured around non-incarceration outcomes, and we know how to present cases in those terms.
What does this look like practicaly? When a client gets arrested in Brooklyn, were often at the courthouse before the arrignment even starts. Were talking to prosecutors in the hallway, identifying weaknesses in the case, exploring diversion options, sometimes getting cases dismissed before they ever reach the judge. Thats not about fighting. Thats about understanding how Brooklyn actualy works.
For non-citizen clients, we coordinate with the DA's immigration attorneys to structure resolutions that protect immigration status. For young adults, we argue for Young Adult Court placement where the 97 percent success rate applies. For first-time offenders, we identify diversion programs that can result in sealed records. For clients facing serious charges, we build defense strategies that leverage Brooklyn's preference for negotiated outcomes while preparing thoroghly for trial if thats where the case needs to go.
When trial is the right strategy - and sometimes it is - we go to trial prepared. But we never go to trial just to go to trial. We recognize that the 89 percent conviction rate isn't a challenge to overcome through bravado; its a statistical reality that should inform every strategic decision we make.
The Decision You Need To Make Right Now
Heres the reality of your situation. If your reading this, your probably facing charges in Brooklyn or know someone who is. The clock is already running. The speedy trial timeline started at arrest. The arraignment window - the most critical decision point in your case - may have already passed or is approaching fast.
What happens next depends on choices being made right now. Not choices about guilt or innocence. Choices about strategy, about routing, about understanding how Brooklyn's system actually works versus how people think it works.
The brooklyn criminal court system isn't fair - its a system. Systems have rules, patterns, exploits. Prosecutors have quotas, incentives, pressures. Judges have tendencies, preferences, caseload concerns. A lawyer who understands all of this can navigate you toward outcomes that a lawyer who just "fights hard" will never find.
That window is closing. 212-300-5196 reaches someone who understands Brooklyn's system specifically - not NYC generally, not criminal defense abstractly, but the particular ecosystem of Kings County that determines whether you become part of the 89 percent or walk away with your future intact.
They had months to build the case against you. You have days to respond correctly. Use them.
