Permits at the discretion of the court certain members of the deceased victim's family to read statements in court during the sentencing of a defendant, rather than allowing only a single member of the victim's family to read a statement in court, upon consultation with counsel for the defendant and the people.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6684
SPONSOR: Tannousis TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to permitting at
the discretion of the court certain family members of a victim who is
deceased to read statements in court during the sentencing of a defend-
ant
PURPOSE:
To correct an unintended flaw in the statute that effectively prohibits
any discretion of the judge to allow for more than one of the victims'
family members to address the court.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
This bill amends subparagraph 2 of paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of
section 380.50.of the criminal procedure law, as separately amended by
chapters 173 and 198 of the laws of 1996, to allow a presiding judge the
discretion to allow statements on behalf of a victim by an immediate
family member or up to two members, on consultation with counsels for
the defense and the people.
JUSTIFICATION:
When violent criminal acts kill or maim any person, friends and family
are often victims due to the pain and trauma they must endure. In our
civilized society, families of victims must exercise restraint and bear
the pain of their loss while the wheels of justice turn and hopefully
lead to the conviction of the perpetrator of the crime. For the murdered
victims, surviving close relatives such as a spouse, mother, father, or
children, can often find some closure at the end of the trial through
use of the opportunity to address their loss to the court, and make a
statement on behalf of the victim who can no longer speak for
him/her(self). While current law provides this opportunity by allowing
only "a member" of the victim's family to make a statement, it effec-
tively restricts the judge's discretion. Current law prohibits the judge
from considering the appropriateness of more than one member addressing
the court, even if the victim is survived by close relatives, such as a
spouse and parents.
Certainly, good public policy would deem it appropriate to leave it to
the discretion of the judge to determine if both the spouse and a parent
should speak. The judge should not be forced to choose between the wife
and mother of a victim as it occurred in the recent case of police offi-
cer Anthony Sanchez.
This bill, if enacted, will correct the apparently unintended
restriction, and give the discretion to the court where it appropriately
belongs.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024: A5195 Referred to Codes
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
No known fiscal impact.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6684
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 7, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. TANNOUSIS -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to permitting at
the discretion of the court certain family members of a victim who is
deceased to read statements in court during the sentencing of a
defendant
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subparagraph 2 of paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section
2 380.50 of the criminal procedure law, as separately amended by chapters
3 173 and 198 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read as follows:
4 (2) if such victim is unable or unwilling to express [himself or
5 herself] themself before the court or a person so mentally or physically
6 disabled as to make it impracticable to appear in court in person or the
7 victim is deceased, a member of the family of such victim, except that
8 where such victim is deceased and survived by both a spouse and a parent
9 or parents, the court in its sole discretion may allow a spouse or
10 parent or, upon consultation with counsel for the defendant and the
11 people, allow both to make a statement on behalf of such victim, or the
12 legal guardian or representative of the legal guardian of the victim
13 where such guardian or representative has personal knowledge of and a
14 relationship with the victim, unless the court finds that it would be
15 inappropriate for such person or persons to make a statement on behalf
16 of the victim.
17 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01570-01-5
