Bill Text: NY A07201 | 2013-2014 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Removes the $250 amount of damage from cemetery desecration in the second degree; makes cemetery desecration in the second degree a Class E felony to apply to any damage or theft regardless of value; adds crime of cemetery desecration in the first degree and makes such crime a class D felony.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-05-15 - print number 7201a [A07201 Detail]

Download: New_York-2013-A07201-Amended.html

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                           S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
       ________________________________________________________________________
                                        7201--A
                              2013-2014 Regular Sessions
                                 I N  A S S E M B L Y
                                      May 7, 2013
                                      ___________
       Introduced by M. of A. CUSICK -- read once and referred to the Committee
         on  Codes  -- recommitted to the Committee on Codes in accordance with
         Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
         reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
       AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to cemetery desecration;  and
         to repeal certain provisions of such law relating thereto
         THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
       BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
    1    Section 1. Section 145.23 of the penal law, as amended by chapter  353
    2  of the laws of 2007, is amended to read as follows:
    3  S [145.23] 145.22 Cemetery desecration in the [first] SECOND degree.
    4    A  person  is  guilty  of  cemetery  desecration in the [first] SECOND
    5  degree when with intent to damage property of another person, and having
    6  no right to do so nor any reasonable ground to believe that  he  OR  SHE
    7  has such right, he OR SHE:
    8    (a)  damages  any  real  or personal property maintained as a cemetery
    9  plot, grave, burial place or other place of interment of  human  remains
   10  [in an amount exceeding two hundred fifty dollars]; or
   11    (b)  with intent to steal personal property, he OR SHE steals personal
   12  property[, the value of which exceeds two hundred fifty dollars,]  which
   13  is  located  at  a  cemetery plot, grave, burial place or other place of
   14  interment of human remains and which property is owned by the person  or
   15  organization  which maintains or owns such place or the estate, next-of-
   16  kin or representatives of the deceased person interred there[; or
   17    (c) commits the crime of cemetery desecration in the second degree  as
   18  defined  in  section  145.22  of  this  article  and has been previously
   19  convicted of the crime of cemetery  desecration  in  the  second  degree
   20  within the preceding five years].
   21    Cemetery desecration in the [first] SECOND degree is a class E felony.
   22    S  2.  The penal law is amended by adding a new section 145.23 to read
   23  as follows:
        EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                             [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                  LBD01469-03-4
       A. 7201--A                          2
    1  S 145.23 CEMETERY DESECRATION IN THE FIRST DEGREE.
    2    A PERSON IS GUILTY OF CEMETERY DESECRATION IN THE FIRST DEGREE WHEN HE
    3  OR SHE COMMITS THE CRIME OF CEMETERY DESECRATION IN THE SECOND DEGREE AS
    4  DEFINED  IN  SECTION  145.22  OF  THIS  ARTICLE  AND HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY
    5  CONVICTED OF THE CRIME OF CEMETERY  DESECRATION  IN  THE  SECOND  DEGREE
    6  WITHIN THE PRECEDING FIVE YEARS.
    7    CEMETERY DESECRATION IN THE FIRST DEGREE IS A CLASS D FELONY.
    8    S 3. Section 145.22 of the penal law is REPEALED.
    9    S 4. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
   10  ing the date on which it shall have become a law.