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.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7472
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 24, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ANGELINO -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee 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
22 with subdivision five of section 70.00 of this title. When a defendant
23 is convicted of the crime of terrorism as defined in section 490.25 of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02543-01-3
A. 7472 2
1 this chapter, and the specified offense the defendant committed is a
2 class A-I felony offense, or when a defendant is convicted of the crime
3 of criminal possession of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the
4 first degree as defined in section 490.45 of this chapter, or when a
5 defendant is convicted of the crime of criminal use of a chemical weapon
6 or biological weapon in the first degree as defined in section 490.55 of
7 this chapter, the court shall sentence the defendant to life imprison-
8 ment without parole in accordance with subdivision five of section 70.00
9 of this title; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall
10 preclude or prevent a sentence of death when the defendant is also
11 convicted of murder in the first degree as defined in section 125.27 of
12 this chapter. When a defendant is convicted of aggravated murder as
13 defined in subdivision two of section 125.26 of this chapter, the court
14 shall sentence the defendant to life imprisonment without parole or to a
15 term of imprisonment for a class A-I felony other than a sentence of
16 life imprisonment without parole, in accordance with subdivisions one
17 through three of section 70.00 of this title.
18 § 2. Subdivision 5 of section 70.00 of the penal law, as amended by
19 section 40-a of part WWW of chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, is amended
20 to read as follows:
21 5. Life imprisonment without parole. Notwithstanding any other
22 provision of law, a defendant sentenced to life imprisonment without
23 parole shall not be or become eligible for parole [or], conditional
24 release, commutation or pardon. For purposes of commitment and custody,
25 other than parole and conditional release, such sentence shall be deemed
26 to be an indeterminate sentence. A defendant may be sentenced to life
27 imprisonment without parole upon conviction for the crime of murder in
28 the first degree as defined in section 125.27 of this chapter and in
29 accordance with the procedures provided by law for imposing a sentence
30 for such crime, except that a defendant must be sentenced to life impri-
31 sonment without parole upon conviction for the crime of murder in the
32 first degree as defined in subparagraph (i), (ii), (ii-a), (iii) or (iv)
33 of paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section 125.27 of this chapter.
34 A defendant must be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole upon
35 conviction for the crime of murder in the second degree as defined in
36 subdivision six of section 125.25 of this chapter. A defendant who was
37 eighteen years of age or older at the time of the commission of the
38 crime must be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole upon
39 conviction for the crime of terrorism as defined in section 490.25 of
40 this chapter, where the specified offense the defendant committed is a
41 class A-I felony; the crime of criminal possession of a chemical weapon
42 or biological weapon in the first degree as defined in section 490.45 of
43 this chapter; or the crime of criminal use of a chemical weapon or
44 biological weapon in the first degree as defined in section 490.55 of
45 this chapter; provided, however, that nothing in this subdivision shall
46 preclude or prevent a sentence of death when the defendant is also
47 convicted of the crime of murder in the first degree as defined in
48 section 125.27 of this chapter. A defendant who was seventeen years of
49 age or younger at the time of the commission of the crime may be
50 sentenced, in accordance with law, to the applicable indeterminate
51 sentence with a maximum term of life imprisonment. A defendant must be
52 sentenced to life imprisonment without parole upon conviction for the
53 crime of murder in the second degree as defined in subdivision five or
54 six of section 125.25 of this chapter or for the crime of aggravated
55 murder as defined in subdivision one of section 125.26 of this chapter.
56 A defendant may be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole upon
A. 7472 3
1 conviction for the crime of aggravated murder as defined in subdivision
2 two of section 125.26 of this chapter.
3 § 3. Subdivision 5 of section 125.25 of the penal law, as amended by
4 chapter 320 of the laws of 2006, is amended and a new subdivision 6 is
5 added to read as follows:
6 5. Being eighteen years old or more, while in the course of committing
7 rape in the first, second or third degree, criminal sexual act in the
8 first, second or third degree, sexual abuse in the first degree, aggra-
9 vated sexual abuse in the first, second, third or fourth degree, or
10 incest in the first, second or third degree, against a person less than
11 fourteen years old, he or she intentionally causes the death of such
12 person[.]; or
13 6. Acting either alone or with one or more other persons, he or she
14 commits or attempts to commit robbery, burglary, kidnapping, arson, rape
15 in the first degree, criminal sexual act in the first degree, sexual
16 abuse in the first degree, aggravated sexual abuse, escape in the first
17 degree, or escape in the second degree, and, in the course of and in
18 furtherance of such crime or of immediate flight therefrom, he or she,
19 or another participant, if there be any, intentionally causes the
20 death of: a police officer as defined in subdivision thirty-four of
21 section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law; a peace officer as defined
22 in paragraph a of subdivision twenty-one, subdivision twenty-three,
23 twenty-four or sixty-two (employees of the division for youth) of
24 section 2.10 of the criminal procedure law; a firefighter; emergency
25 medical technician, ambulance driver, paramedic, physician or registered
26 nurse involved in a first response team, or any other individual who, in
27 the course of official duties, performs emergency response; or an
28 employee of a state correctional institution or was an employee of a
29 local correctional facility as defined in subdivision two of section
30 forty of the correction law, when such person was engaged in the course
31 of performing their official duties.
32 § 4. This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same
33 manner as a chapter of the laws of 2023 proposing an amendment to
34 section 4 of article IV of the constitution, relating to prohibiting
35 persons convicted of murder or sentenced to life without parole from
36 being eligible for commutation of sentence, takes effect.
