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Full text
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Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S7048
Title of bill
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to restricting the nature of extreme emotional disturbance as an affirmative defense to a charge of murder in the second degree
Purpose or general idea of bill
To clarify that, for the purposes of the "extreme emotional disturbance" defense to the crime of murder in the second degree, it is not a reasonable explanation or excuse that the violent act was triggered by a non-violent sexual advance by the victim or the discovery of the victim's sexual orientation or gender identity.
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1 of the bill amends paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 125.25 of the penal law, as amended by chapter 791 of the laws of 1967, to clarify that a non-violent sexual advance or the discovery of a person's sexual orientation or gender identity does not constitute a reasonable explanation or excuse as an affirmative defense to second degree murder.
Section 2 of the bill states that the bill shall take effect immediately.
Justification
In August 2013, the American Bar Association passed a resolution urging state governments to take legislative action to curtail the availability and effectiveness of so-called "gay panic" and "trans panic" defenses. Such defenses effectively excuse or mitigate serious violent crimes on the grounds that the victim's sexual orientation or gender identity played a role in causing the crime to be committed.
Under current New York State law, the penal law provides an affirmative defense to the crime of murder in the second degree, when the defendant acts under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance for which there is a reasonable explanation or excuse, the reasonableness of which is to be determined from the viewpoint of a person in the defendant's situation under the circumstances as the defendant believed them to be. This affirmative defense allows violent acts that may otherwise meet the elements of murder in the second degree to be prosecuted as lesser crimes.
Prior legislative history
New Bill.
Fiscal implications
None to the state.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.