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January 3rd 2024 Our client was arrested after execution of a Search Warrant on March 1, 2023. When arrested, he was alleged to have a “cache” of illegal weapons as illustrated in the below photo. Upon closer examination, none of the guns, except one in our client’s bedroom, were fully assembled and did not qualify under NY Law as an operable weapon. Criminal Defense Attorney Todd D. Greenberg was able to establish that our client was a “hoarder”, that he collected these items, but never intended to assemble the guns. Further Mr. Greenberg urged the Prosecution to consider that he didn’t possess a criminal intent. Mr. Greenberg suggested a course of counseling for our clients’ hoarding issues and is thankful to the Queens District Attorney which approved a sentence of 5 years’ Probation instead of the substantial jail sentence that the District Attorney first sought. Please call Addabbo & Greenberg 718-268-0400, and ask for attorney Todd D. Greenberg, to help you through your unfortunate situation if you are charged with a crime.

On September 7th, 2023, our 16-year-old client was in a car when the police stopped the vehicle, searched the car and found a loaded weapon (there was another person in the car). Immediately, Criminal Defense attorney Todd D. Greenberg concluded after viewing Body Cams that there was absolutely no “probable cause” to stop and search the vehicle! Kudos to the Queens District Attorney for immediately researching and determining that Mr. Greenberg was correct and that the police lacked “probable cause” for the stop and search. Within two weeks after being arrested on a serious felony with a mandatory jail term, the case was dismissed and sealed and our young client had a second chance at life! If you need our help please do not hesitate to call 718-268-0400 or visit our website www.queenslaw.com

Criminal Defense Attorney Todd Greenberg obtained suppression of an AK-47 Riffle leading to a dismissal of a Queens County Indictment that charged the Defendant with a 3 ½ year minimum to 15 year maximum sentence for possession. Our client, along with four other “knuckleheads” (all were college graduates and some had a Masters degree), were at client’s business, two isolated acres bordered by water in Rockaway, Queens, on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2020, and fired an AK-47 in the air. The shots were picked up by ShotSpotter and the police arrived. According to the District Attorney, our client, the owner of the premises, consented to a search which yielded the AK-47. The Prosecution demanded two years in jail and the case proceeded to Hearings. This was a case that Body Worn Cameras actually helped the Defendant expose the truth! The alleged “Consent” to search the premises was captured on video and Mr. Greenberg maintained that the video established that the District Attorney failed to meet it’s “heavy burden” of showing “clear and positive evidence” that there was a voluntary consent to search. Mr. Greenberg performed his usual due diligence by viewing every single Body Worn Camera worn by every Police Officer at the scene. There were at least thirty Body Cameras and fifteen Police Officers involved. During his review of the Body Cams, a Police Officer is heard “faintly whispering” to a fellow Police Officer just 10 minutes after the alleged consent “… are you sure he gave permission?”. Suppression granted! If you or your loved ones are charged with a crime, contact the Attorneys who review every tape, every piece of paper and make every legal argument on a client’s behalf and whom have been successful in preserving the Constitutional Rights of citizens. Contact our firm and ask for Todd Greenberg at 718-268-0400 or at Queenslaw.com.

On May 7, 2008, the Defendant was found “Not Guilty” of all criminal charges stemming from an alleged attack by him against a neighbor with a machete. The Defendant was charged with Menacing and Criminal Possession of a Weapon regarding an incident that occurred on Saturday, September 9, 2006 immediately outside the Defendant’s home which is attached to the home of the Complaining Witness. The testimony revealed a long on-going dispute between the two families which culminated with words between the Defendant’s father and the Complainant wherein the Defendant was arrested and accused of coming out of his home with a machete and threatening his neighbor. The Police arrived and described a disorderly and violent crowd outside the Defendant’s house and the Police went inside and retrieved a machete which was introduced into evidence. Attorney Todd D. Greenberg attacked the credibility of the Witness and pointed out to the Court that on cross-examination two of the three witnesses testified that the Defendant never left the doorway of his home and did not exit his home, as the District Attorney alleged, to go after the Complainant. Further, after comparison of the testimony of the three alleged eye-witnesses, it was pointed out to the Court that there were major inconsistencies and that the Court should conclude that the testimony is false. On an interesting note, evidence was introduced that in the Indo Caribbean community, a machete, also known as “cutlass” is used for many things including cooking, gardening and as a household utensil. That argument was used to explain the presence of a machete in the Defendant’s house.

New York State has some of the toughest gun control laws in the world. Our clients were retired military veterans and legal firearm holders who resided in Hawaii. Upon traveling through New York, they declared their weapons, which were contained in proper lockboxes in accordance with TSA regulations, at a ticket counter inside LaGuardia airport when they were arrested and charged with felony gun possession. Our office immediately put together a persuasive mitigation package and appealed directly to the Chief Assistant District Attorney of the firearm bureau of the District Attorney’s Office. Our strong advocacy on behalf of our clients convinced the District Attorney that the case was worthy of being dismissed. The case was subsequently dismissed and sealed without our clients needing to return to court. If you are charged with a firearm related offense, or any other crime, call attorneys Caitlin Quvus and Todd Greenberg for the best result at 718-268-0400 or visit us at www.www.addabboandgreenberg.com.

Our client, a Queens Contractor, was charged with Possession of two (2) Loaded Firearms in his garage. Under the New York SAFÉ ACT, Possession of a weapon, even in one’s home, was raised to a Class “E” Felony. Our client, in the midst of a bitter divorce, was arrested when police officers responding to a domestic incident came to his home wherein our client’s estranged wife directed them to the guns in a draw in his garage which was under his control. After two (2) years of litigation, the Jury returned a “NOT GUILTY” verdict in this matter on June 26 th, 2018. At trial, Criminal Defense Attorney Todd Greenberg attacked the DNA evidence that was presented which showed our client’s DNA on those two guns. Through the Prosecution’s own case, the Defense established that our client was “set up” by his wife who wanted him out of the house! Additionally, based on Mr. Greenberg’s knowledge of DNA evidence, Mr. Greenberg was able to show that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York simply did not do a proper analysis in this case. He exposed the OCME’s protocol of only taking the highest quantity of DNA on a gun and analyzing it, which was our client’s DNA, but ignored two other locations of DNA on the gun without analyzing same. The argument to the Jury was that this incomplete investigation deprived the Jury of very important data as to who touched that gun. Further, during cross-examination, Mr. Greenberg was able to get the Criminologist from the OCME’s office to admit that the Defendant’s DNA actually was a mixture and contained the DNA of a third person which was never tested. After speaking with the Jury at the end of the case, the Jury highlighted to Mr. Greenberg that they followed his summation and found the DNA Analysis insufficient and that the Defendant’s wife lacked credibility. If you are falsely arrested and charged with a crime call Criminal Defense Attorney Todd Greenberg for the best result at 718-268-0400 or visit our firm’s website at www.addabboandgreenberg.com.

A Queens Supreme Court Judge acquitted our client of all Felony charges regarding possession of illegal handguns in his apartment wherein there was an accidental discharge and a bullet entered a neighbor’s apartment. Our client was given the gun by a friend for self-defense purposes and was unloading it when it discharged into the apartment below. The police arrived, saw the bullet hole in the ceiling, went to our client’s apartment, searched the apartment and obtained two hand guns for which the Defendant did not have a license. He was arrested for Two Counts Criminal Possession of a Weapon with Intent to Use and Reckless Endangerment in the First Degree. The District Attorney of Queens County, relying on the Statutory Presumption of “Intent to Use”, charged the Defendant with a Class “C” Felony which mandated a mandatory minimum 3 ½ years if convicted. Criminal Defense Attorney Todd Greenberg filed a Motion arguing that the Defendant’s Constitutional Second Amendment Right to Possess Arms was violated by the application of the presumption of possession to the weapons which were in the Defendant’s home. Although the Judge denied the Motion, in acquitting our client, the Judge found that the Defendant overcame the presumption of “intent to use” and that the People failed to prove that element beyond the reasonable doubt, finding the Defendant guilty of a Class “A” Misdemeanor of Possession of a Firearm in his home. Significantly, Mr. Greenberg and Addabbo and Greenberg Associate, Caitlyn Young, did extensive research and presented every case to the Court where the presumption of “Intent to Use” was applied and distinguished the case at bar. Also significant, an Element of Reckless Endangerment in the First Degree is that the Defendant acted with a “Depraved Indifference to Human Life”, and the Court held that the People failed to prove that element beyond the Reasonable Doubt. Based upon Mr. Greenberg’s knowledge of the law, his extensive Trial experience and persistence and dedication on behalf of his client, our client was found “NOT GUILTY” of all Felony charges, and his exposure for punishment has been limited to that of a person convicted of a Misdemeanor crime. If you are charged with a serious crime, call Queens Criminal Defense Attorney Todd Greenberg for the best result at 718-268-0400 or reach us at www.addabboandgreenberg.com.

Based on extensive legal research, all Felony charges contained in the Indictment against Addabbo and Greenberg’s client were dismissed immediately before Jury Selection. The issue involved an evidentiary principle known as a “Presumption of Possession” wherein a Defendant is presumed to have possessed a weapon with “intent to use”. The presumption allows a District Attorney to go forward with the case based on that presumption of intent. The weapon in question was a “razor blade”. Extensive research that reached into the legislative intent of the statute clearly established that the one weapon not included in that evidentiary presumption was a “razor”. Upon presenting the Law to the District Attorney, the Prosecutor had no choice but to dismiss all Felony charges even though the Prosecutor was demanding State jail time! Once again, with diligence and complete knowledge of the Law, Addabbo and Greenberg Criminal Attorney had an extremely successful result for our client. If you need our help, please call 718-268-0400.

After years of litigation, on February 19th, 2013, a Justice of the Supreme Court, Queens County, granted Addabbo and Greenberg’s client suppression of a gun found in a draw in his bedroom. At the Probable Cause Hearing, attorney Todd Greenberg argued that the District Attorney failed to present any evidence concerning the information to support a reasonable belief that an offense was committed by this Defendant. Instead, the District Attorney relied on the Doctrine of “Collateral Estoppel” from another case. In the Brief filed by Addabbo and Greenberg, argued that collateral estoppel should not apply. Supreme Court agreed and since collateral estoppel did not apply, and the People failed to present the necessary evidence, the gun and a statement was suppressed as being obtained in violation of our client’s Constitutional Rights. Once again, knowledge of the Law and skillful brief writing has led to the best result possible for a client of Addabbo and Greenberg.

On January 11, 2011, a Brooklyn Jury acquitted the Defendant, a thirty- seven year old man, of the Class C Felony of Criminal Possession of a Gun that was in a car in which he was sitting. The offer prior to trial was seven years incarceration for having a loaded weapon in the car. Without calling any witnesses on his own behalf, and through extensive cross-examination of the police witnesses by Defense Attorney Todd D. Greenberg, it was established that the defendant had a dispute with his girlfriend on the street, which the police saw, and observed the defendant get into the car wherein the police approached the car, asked him to exit and arrested him for Disorderly Conduct. Upon the arrest, the arresting officer stated that he observed the “butt of the gun” sticking out from under the seat and arrested the defendant for the weapons charge. Even though there is a presumption of possession of a gun when in a vehicle under New York Law, Attorney Greenberg successfully argued to the Jury that the Defendant’s presence in the car was only for a “fleeting moment” and there was no evidence that the defendant brought the car to the location or otherwise exercised dominion and control over the car. Instead of taking the offered plea, Mr. Greenberg advised the client to take the case to trial wherein the Jury found, based on Mr. Greenberg’s arguments, that the presumption of possession should not apply in this case and found defendant “not guilty”. Once again, knowledge of the Law and knowledge of the facts has helped a client of Addabbo and Greenberg avoid a serious criminal conviction and jail time.