Richard A. Portale

New York criminal defense attorney Richard A. Portale is known in and out of the courtroom for his passion, hard work, and commitment to justice.  Mr. Portale has consistently fought for decades to protect the rights of his clients with a track record that that is second to none. 

No matter the scope of the charges our clients are facing, Mr. Portale recognizes impact that results will have on the lives of his clients and their families.  He represents his clients with empathy, zeal and a refreshingly direct approach.

Mr. Portale has been involved in numerous high-profile cases.

• In a defense case that garnered international media coverage, the People of the State of New York v. Angelika Graswald, Mr. Portale and his team masterfully crafted a defense after police claimed his Latvian immigrant client admitted she had murdered her fiancé in a kayak on the Hudson River in April, 2015. Undeterred by the murder charge and the evidence against his client, who faced a possible sentence of 25 years to life, Mr. Portale and his team worked tirelessly for over two years and were eventually able to overcome both Murder and Manslaughter, leveraging a plea to Criminal Negligence that allowed Ms. Graswald to be released before Christmas, 2017. Shortly after her release, Mr. Portale and co-counsel Anthony Piscionere took the fight to the Duchess County Probate Court, where they reached a confidential settlement surrounding the Life insurance proceeds of the deceased.

• Mr. Portale was co-counsel for Bill Clinton’s neighbor, Carlos Perez-Olivo (a criminal defense lawyer himself) who was charged with Second Degree Murder in 2008. At the trial, Mr. Portale was responsible for all the forensic evidence, in which he provided scientific proof that Mr. Olivo could not have been the one to shoot his wife. 

• In 2009, Mr. Portale was a member of the defense team of former NFL linebacker Eric Naposki, who was arrested and charged with first degree murder in Newport Beach, California. 

• In 2010, Mr. Portale was lead counsel for Westchester Police Officer James Pileggi on charges of Reckless Manslaughter for shooting and killing a friend in his car at point blank range – with his own off duty firearm. That trial resulted in a hung jury. 
• Immediately following the Pileggi trial, Mr. Portale defended Terry Carver, a longshoreman accused of breaking a screen, climbing in the window of his girlfriend’s apartment and stabbing her lover nine times in the chest and torso. Mr. Carver was acquitted in six hours. In 2017, he and his partner James A. Randazzo founded the firm Portale Randazzo LLP, which concentrates on both criminal and civil defense.