Bill Text: NY S00408 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Makes life imprisonment without parole mandatory for defendants convicted of murder in the first degree or second degree and the victim is a police officer, peace officer, first responder or correctional officer.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 13-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO CODES [S00408 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-S00408-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 408 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 4, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sens. GALLIVAN, BORRELLO, HELMING, LANZA, ORTT, STEC, TEDISCO, WEIK -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to making life imprisonment without parole mandatory for defendants convicted of murder in the first degree or second degree and the victim is a police officer, peace officer, first responder or correctional officer The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 60.06 of the penal law, as amended by chapter 482 2 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 60.06 Authorized disposition; murder in the first degree offenders; 4 aggravated murder offenders; certain murder in the second 5 degree offenders; certain terrorism offenders; criminal 6 possession of a chemical weapon or biological weapon offen- 7 ders; criminal use of a chemical weapon or biological weapon 8 offenders. 9 When a defendant is convicted of murder in the first degree as defined 10 in section 125.27 of this chapter, the court shall, in accordance with 11 the provisions of section 400.27 of the criminal procedure law, sentence 12 the defendant to death, to life imprisonment without parole in accord- 13 ance with subdivision five of section 70.00 of this title, or, except as 14 provided in subdivision five of section 70.00 of this title, to a term 15 of imprisonment for a class A-I felony other than a sentence of life 16 imprisonment without parole, in accordance with subdivisions one through 17 three of section 70.00 of this title. When a person is convicted of 18 murder in the second degree as defined in subdivision five of section 19 125.25 of this chapter or of the crime of aggravated murder as defined 20 in subdivision one of section 125.26 of this chapter, the court shall 21 sentence the defendant to life imprisonment without parole in accordance EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD02543-01-3S. 408 2 1 with subdivision five of section 70.00 of this title. When a defendant 2 is convicted of the crime of terrorism as defined in section 490.25 of 3 this chapter, and the specified offense the defendant committed is a 4 class A-I felony offense, or when a defendant is convicted of the crime 5 of criminal possession of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the 6 first degree as defined in section 490.45 of this chapter, or when a 7 defendant is convicted of the crime of criminal use of a chemical weapon 8 or biological weapon in the first degree as defined in section 490.55 of 9 this chapter, the court shall sentence the defendant to life imprison- 10 ment without parole in accordance with subdivision five of section 70.00 11 of this title; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall 12 preclude or prevent a sentence of death when the defendant is also 13 convicted of murder in the first degree as defined in section 125.27 of 14 this chapter. When a defendant is convicted of aggravated murder as 15 defined in subdivision two of section 125.26 of this chapter, the court 16 shall sentence the defendant to life imprisonment without parole or to a 17 term of imprisonment for a class A-I felony other than a sentence of 18 life imprisonment without parole, in accordance with subdivisions one 19 through three of section 70.00 of this title. 20 § 2. Subdivision 5 of section 70.00 of the penal law, as amended by 21 section 40-a of part WWW of chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, is amended 22 to read as follows: 23 5. Life imprisonment without parole. Notwithstanding any other 24 provision of law, a defendant sentenced to life imprisonment without 25 parole shall not be or become eligible for parole [or], conditional 26 release, commutation or pardon. For purposes of commitment and custody, 27 other than parole and conditional release, such sentence shall be deemed 28 to be an indeterminate sentence. A defendant may be sentenced to life 29 imprisonment without parole upon conviction for the crime of murder in 30 the first degree as defined in section 125.27 of this chapter and in 31 accordance with the procedures provided by law for imposing a sentence 32 for such crime, except that a defendant must be sentenced to life impri- 33 sonment without parole upon conviction for the crime of murder in the 34 first degree as defined in subparagraph (i), (ii), (ii-a), (iii) or (iv) 35 of paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section 125.27 of this chapter. 36 A defendant must be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole upon 37 conviction for the crime of murder in the second degree as defined in 38 subdivision six of section 125.25 of this chapter. A defendant who was 39 eighteen years of age or older at the time of the commission of the 40 crime must be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole upon 41 conviction for the crime of terrorism as defined in section 490.25 of 42 this chapter, where the specified offense the defendant committed is a 43 class A-I felony; the crime of criminal possession of a chemical weapon 44 or biological weapon in the first degree as defined in section 490.45 of 45 this chapter; or the crime of criminal use of a chemical weapon or 46 biological weapon in the first degree as defined in section 490.55 of 47 this chapter; provided, however, that nothing in this subdivision shall 48 preclude or prevent a sentence of death when the defendant is also 49 convicted of the crime of murder in the first degree as defined in 50 section 125.27 of this chapter. A defendant who was seventeen years of 51 age or younger at the time of the commission of the crime may be 52 sentenced, in accordance with law, to the applicable indeterminate 53 sentence with a maximum term of life imprisonment. A defendant must be 54 sentenced to life imprisonment without parole upon conviction for the 55 crime of murder in the second degree as defined in subdivision five or 56 six of section 125.25 of this chapter or for the crime of aggravatedS. 408 3 1 murder as defined in subdivision one of section 125.26 of this chapter. 2 A defendant may be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole upon 3 conviction for the crime of aggravated murder as defined in subdivision 4 two of section 125.26 of this chapter. 5 § 3. Subdivision 5 of section 125.25 of the penal law, as amended by 6 chapter 320 of the laws of 2006, is amended and a new subdivision 6 is 7 added to read as follows: 8 5. Being eighteen years old or more, while in the course of committing 9 rape in the first, second or third degree, criminal sexual act in the 10 first, second or third degree, sexual abuse in the first degree, aggra- 11 vated sexual abuse in the first, second, third or fourth degree, or 12 incest in the first, second or third degree, against a person less than 13 fourteen years old, he or she intentionally causes the death of such 14 person[.]; or 15 6. Acting either alone or with one or more other persons, he or she 16 commits or attempts to commit robbery, burglary, kidnapping, arson, rape 17 in the first degree, criminal sexual act in the first degree, sexual 18 abuse in the first degree, aggravated sexual abuse, escape in the first 19 degree, or escape in the second degree, and, in the course of and in 20 furtherance of such crime or of immediate flight therefrom, he or she, 21 or another participant, if there be any, intentionally causes the 22 death of: a police officer as defined in subdivision thirty-four of 23 section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law; a peace officer as defined 24 in paragraph a of subdivision twenty-one, subdivision twenty-three, 25 twenty-four or sixty-two (employees of the division for youth) of 26 section 2.10 of the criminal procedure law; a firefighter; emergency 27 medical technician, ambulance driver, paramedic, physician or registered 28 nurse involved in a first response team, or any other individual who, in 29 the course of official duties, performs emergency response; or an 30 employee of a state correctional institution or was an employee of a 31 local correctional facility as defined in subdivision two of section 32 forty of the correction law, when such person was engaged in the course 33 of performing their official duties. 34 § 4. This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same 35 manner as a chapter of the laws of 2023 proposing an amendment to 36 section 4 of article IV of the constitution, relating to prohibiting 37 persons convicted of murder or sentenced to life without parole from 38 being eligible for commutation of sentence, takes effect.
