Bill Text: NY A08375 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Provides that it shall not be an affirmative defense for murder that the defendant's conduct resulted substantially from the discovery, knowledge or disclosure of the victim's sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression or sex assigned at birth.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 30-0)

Status: (Passed) 2019-06-30 - SIGNED CHAP.45 [A08375 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A08375-Introduced.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          8375

                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      June 15, 2019
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  O'DONNELL  --  read once and referred to the
          Committee on Codes

        AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to  affirmative  defenses  to
          certain homicide offenses

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of  section  125.25  of  the
     2  penal  law, as amended by chapter 791 of the laws of 1967, is amended to
     3  read as follows:
     4    (a) (i) The defendant acted under the influence of  extreme  emotional
     5  disturbance  for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, the
     6  reasonableness of which is to be determined  from  the  viewpoint  of  a
     7  person  in  the  defendant's  situation  under  the circumstances as the
     8  defendant believed them to be.   Nothing  contained  in  this  paragraph
     9  shall  constitute  a  defense  to  a  prosecution  for,  or  preclude  a
    10  conviction of, manslaughter in the first degree or any other crime. (ii)
    11  It shall not be a "reasonable explanation or excuse" pursuant to subpar-
    12  agraph (i) of this paragraph when the defendant's conduct resulted  from
    13  the  discovery,  knowledge  or  disclosure of the victim's sexual orien-
    14  tation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression or sex  assigned
    15  at birth; or
    16    §  2.  Paragraph  (a)  of subdivision 3 of section 125.26 of the penal
    17  law, as added by chapter 765 of the laws of 2005,  such  subdivision  as
    18  renumbered  by  chapter  482  of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as
    19  follows:
    20    (a) (i) The defendant acted under the influence of  extreme  emotional
    21  disturbance  for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, the
    22  reasonableness of which is to be determined  from  the  viewpoint  of  a
    23  person  in  the  defendant's  situation  under  the circumstances as the
    24  defendant believed them to be. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall
    25  constitute a defense to a prosecution for, or preclude a conviction  of,

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13325-04-9

        A. 8375                             2

     1  aggravated  manslaughter  in the first degree, manslaughter in the first
     2  degree or any other crime except murder in the second  degree.  (ii)  It
     3  shall  not  be a "reasonable explanation or excuse" pursuant to subpara-
     4  graph  (i)  of this paragraph when the defendant's conduct resulted from
     5  the discovery, knowledge or disclosure of  the  victim's  sexual  orien-
     6  tation,  sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression or sex assigned
     7  at birth; or
     8    § 3. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section  125.27  of  the  penal
     9  law,  as added by chapter 367 of the laws of 1974, is amended to read as
    10  follows:
    11    (a) (i) The defendant acted under the influence of  extreme  emotional
    12  disturbance  for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, the
    13  reasonableness of which is to be determined  from  the  viewpoint  of  a
    14  person  in  the  defendant's  situation  under  the circumstances as the
    15  defendant believed them to be.   Nothing  contained  in  this  paragraph
    16  shall  constitute  a  defense  to  a  prosecution  for,  or  preclude  a
    17  conviction of, manslaughter in the  first  degree  or  any  other  crime
    18  except  murder  in the second degree. (ii) It shall not be a "reasonable
    19  explanation or excuse" pursuant to subparagraph (i)  of  this  paragraph
    20  when  the  defendant's conduct resulted from the discovery, knowledge or
    21  disclosure of the victim's sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender iden-
    22  tity, gender expression or sex assigned at birth; or
    23    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
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