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History
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Full text
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Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S2066
Title of bill
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to redefining assault in the second degree so as to include intent to cause physical injury where such injury results and in consequence of such injury further serious injury or death occurs
Purpose/summary of provisions
Section 120.05 of the penal law, subdivisions 3 and 5-10, is amended to include under the description of Assault in the second degree "with intent to cause physical injury to another person, he or she causes such injury to such person or to a third person and as a consequence of the injury caused, further second physical injury or the death of such person or the third person occurs."
Justification
This legislation would toughen prison sentences for those who commit assault when that assault leads to the death of another, regardless of the severity of their intentions. Dubbed "Mathis' Law" by an editorial in the New York Post, this legislation is a response to a legal loophole brought to light in cases like those of Rabbi Mathis Weingarten. The current laws of New York let a Bronx man off the hook with a misdemeanor sentence for viciously punching Weingarten, a 47-year-old Hasidic rabbi and father of eight, who then fell and died from cracking his head on the pavement. Because current law makes no provision for the punch's fatal aftermath, the assailant received only a year sentence for misdemeanor assault. Essentially, this is a one year sentence for manslaughter. Currently under New York law the assailant's intent would have to be proven in order to make a charge of Assault in the second degree, which carries up to a seven year sentence. This legislation would remove the assailant's "safety net" regarding his/her intent.
Existing law
None.
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.