Clayman Rosenberg Kirshner & Linder LLP partners Isabelle A. Kirshner and Wayne E. Gosnell secured a 30-day sentence with five years’ probation for Daniel McAvoy in a high-profile Manhattan unlawful surveillance case. He will not be required to register as a sex offender. 

McAvoy originally faced 29 counts of second-degree unlawful surveillance with a maximum sentence of four years for secretly recording intimate encounters. 

Kirshner and Gosnell successfully argued for the case to be sent to Manhattan’s Alternative to Incarceration Court, which diverts defendants into treatment rather than imposing lengthy incarceration. McAvoy’s sentence comes after he successfully completed a year-long court-ordered program and pleaded guilty to seven counts of unlawful surveillance. 

“[McAvoy] did everything asked of him,” Gosnell told The Gothamist. “The court very carefully considered all of the different factors and rendered what we think is a very favorable sentence.”

The outcome avoids the long-term consequences associated with sex offender registration.