2023 New York Laws › CPL - Criminal Procedure › Part 3 - Special Proceedings and Miscellaneous Procedures › Title U - Special Proceedings Which Replace,suspend or Abate Criminal Actions › Article 730 - Mental Disease or Defect Excluding Fitness to Proceed › 730.20 - Fitness to Proceed; Generally.

§ 730.20  Fitness to proceed; generally.
1.   The appropriate director to whom a criminal court issues an order
  of examination must be  determined  in  accordance  with  rules  jointly
  adopted  by  the judicial conference and the commissioner.  Upon receipt
  of an examination order,  the  director  must  designate  two  qualified
  psychiatric  examiners,  of whom he may be one, to examine the defendant
  to determine if he is  an  incapacitated  person.  In  conducting  their
  examination,  the  psychiatric  examiners may employ any method which is
  accepted by the  medical  profession  for  the  examination  of  persons
  alleged  to  be  mentally  ill  or  mentally  defective.   The court may
  authorize a psychiatrist or psychologist retained by the defendant to be
  present at such examination.
2.  When the defendant is not in custody at the time a court issues an
  order of examination, because he was theretofore released on bail or  on
  his  own  recognizance,  the  court  may  direct that the examination be
  conducted on an out-patient basis, and at such time  and  place  as  the
  director  shall designate.   If, however, the director informs the court
  that hospital confinement of the defendant is necessary for an effective
  examination, the court may direct that the defendant be  confined  in  a
  hospital designated by the director until the examination is completed.
3.    When  the  defendant is in custody at the time a court issues an
  order of examination, the examination must be  conducted  at  the  place
  where the defendant is being held in custody.  If, however, the director
  determines  that  hospital confinement of the defendant is necessary for
  an effective examination, the sheriff must deliver the  defendant  to  a
  hospital  designated  by  the  director and hold him in custody therein,
  under sufficient guard, until the examination is completed.
4.  Hospital confinement under subdivisions two and three shall be for
  a period not exceeding thirty days, except that, upon application of the
  director, the court may authorize confinement for an  additional  period
  not  exceeding  thirty  days  if it is satisfied that a longer period is
  necessary to complete the examination.   During the period  of  hospital
  confinement,  the  physician in charge of the hospital may administer or
  cause to be administered to the defendant  such  emergency  psychiatric,
  medical  or  other  therapeutic  treatment  as in his judgment should be
  administered.
5.  Each psychiatric examiner, after he has completed his  examination
  of the defendant, must promptly prepare an examination report and submit
  it  to  the director.  If the psychiatric examiners are not unanimous in
  their opinion as to whether the defendant is or is not an  incapacitated
  person,  the  director  must  designate  another  qualified  psychiatric
  examiner to examine the defendant to determine if he is an incapacitated
  person.   Upon receipt of the examination  reports,  the  director  must
  submit  them  to  the  court  that issued the order of examination.  The
  court must furnish a copy of the reports to counsel  for  the  defendant
  and to the district attorney.
6.   When a defendant is subjected to examination pursuant to an order
  issued by  a  criminal  court  in  accordance  with  this  article,  any
  statement  made  by  him for the purpose of the examination or treatment
  shall be inadmissible in evidence against him in any criminal action  on
  any issue other than that of his mental condition, but such statement is
  admissible upon that issue whether or not it would otherwise be deemed a
  privileged communication.
7.    A  psychiatric  examiner is entitled to his reasonable traveling
  expenses, a fee of fifty dollars for each examination of a defendant and
  a fee of fifty dollars for each appearance at a court hearing  or  trial
  but  not  exceeding  two  hundred  dollars  in  fees for examination and
  testimony in any one case; except that if such psychiatric  examiner  be

  an  employee  of  the  state  of  New  York he shall be entitled only to
  reasonable traveling expenses, unless such  psychiatric  examiner  makes
  the examination or appears at a court hearing or trial outside his hours
  of  state  employment  in  a  county  in which the director of community
  mental health services certifies to  the  fiscal  officer  thereof  that
  there  is  a  shortage  of  qualified psychiatrists available to conduct
  examinations under the criminal procedure law in such county,  in  which
  event  he  shall  be  entitled  to  the  foregoing  fees  and reasonable
  traveling expenses.  Such fees and traveling expenses and the  costs  of
  sending  a  defendant to another place of detention or to a hospital for
  examination, of his maintenance therein and of returning him shall, when
  approved by the court, be a charge of the county in which the  defendant
  is being tried.