Bill Text: NY S06573 | 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 3-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-06-30 - SIGNED CHAP.45 [S06573 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-S06573-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6573 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN SENATE June 16, 2019 ___________ Introduced by Sen. HOYLMAN -- (at request of the Governor) -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules 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 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD12032-01-9S. 6573 2 1 constitute a defense to a prosecution for, or preclude a conviction of, 2 aggravated manslaughter in the first degree, manslaughter in the first 3 degree or any other crime except murder in the second degree. (ii) It 4 shall not be a "reasonable explanation or excuse" pursuant to subpara- 5 graph (i) of this paragraph when the defendant's conduct resulted from 6 the discovery, knowledge or disclosure of the victim's sexual orien- 7 tation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression or sex assigned 8 at birth; or 9 § 3. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 125.27 of the penal 10 law, as added by chapter 367 of the laws of 1974, is amended to read as 11 follows: 12 (a) (i) The defendant acted under the influence of extreme emotional 13 disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, the 14 reasonableness of which is to be determined from the viewpoint of a 15 person in the defendant's situation under the circumstances as the 16 defendant believed them to be. Nothing contained in this paragraph 17 shall constitute a defense to a prosecution for, or preclude a 18 conviction of, manslaughter in the first degree or any other crime 19 except murder in the second degree. (ii) It shall not be a "reasonable 20 explanation or excuse" pursuant to subparagraph (i) of this paragraph 21 when the defendant's conduct resulted from the discovery, knowledge or 22 disclosure of the victim's sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender iden- 23 tity, gender expression or sex assigned at birth; or 24 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
