Family Court Act § 344.3 · Part 4. The Fact-finding Hearing
Rules of evidence; psychiatric testimony in certain cases
Text — Law content up to date as of August 21, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 344.3. Rules of evidence; psychiatric testimony in certain cases. When, in connection with a defense of mental disease or defect, a psychiatrist or licensed psychologist who has examined the respondent testifies at the fact-finding hearing concerning the respondent's mental condition at the time of the conduct charged to constitute a crime, he must be permitted to make a statement as to the nature of the examination, the diagnosis of the mental condition of the respondent and his opinion as to the extent, if any, to which the capacity of the respondent to know or appreciate the nature and consequences of such conduct, or its wrongfulness, was impaired as a result of mental disease or defect at that time. The psychiatrist must be permitted to make any explanation reasonably serving to clarify his diagnosis and opinion, and may be cross-examined as to any matter bearing on his competency or credibility or the validity of his diagnosis or opinion.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of August 21, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/FCT344.3
- Text hash
- sha256 4fe439ef71cf21c2d7c73af5963b47777b92e698200b7bf8a34f41be0b70f4ad
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- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.