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
________________________________________________________________________
1480
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 10, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ANGELINO, BARCLAY, BEEPHAN, BENDETT, BLANKENBUSH,
BRABENEC, BROOK-KRASNY, K. BROWN, CHANG, DiPIETRO, DURSO, FITZPATRICK,
GANDOLFO, GIGLIO, GRAY, HAWLEY, JENSEN, LEMONDES, MAHER, MANKTELOW,
McDONOUGH, MILLER, NOVAKHOV, PALMESANO, SLATER, SMULLEN, TAGUE -- read
once and referred to the Committee 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
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02883-01-5
A. 1480 2
1 sentence the defendant to life imprisonment without parole in accordance
2 with subdivision five of section 70.00 of this title. When a defendant
3 is convicted of the crime of terrorism as defined in section 490.25 of
4 this chapter, and the specified offense the defendant committed is a
5 class A-I felony offense, or when a defendant is convicted of the crime
6 of criminal possession of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the
7 first degree as defined in section 490.45 of this chapter, or when a
8 defendant is convicted of the crime of criminal use of a chemical weapon
9 or biological weapon in the first degree as defined in section 490.55 of
10 this chapter, the court shall sentence the defendant to life imprison-
11 ment without parole in accordance with subdivision five of section 70.00
12 of this title; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall
13 preclude or prevent a sentence of death when the defendant is also
14 convicted of murder in the first degree as defined in section 125.27 of
15 this chapter. When a defendant is convicted of aggravated murder as
16 defined in subdivision two of section 125.26 of this chapter, the court
17 shall sentence the defendant to life imprisonment without parole or to a
18 term of imprisonment for a class A-I felony other than a sentence of
19 life imprisonment without parole, in accordance with subdivisions one
20 through three of section 70.00 of this title.
21 § 2. Subdivision 5 of section 70.00 of the penal law, as amended by
22 section 40-a of part WWW of chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, is amended
23 to read as follows:
24 5. Life imprisonment without parole. Notwithstanding any other
25 provision of law, a defendant sentenced to life imprisonment without
26 parole shall not be or become eligible for parole [or], conditional
27 release, commutation or pardon. For purposes of commitment and custody,
28 other than parole and conditional release, such sentence shall be deemed
29 to be an indeterminate sentence. A defendant may be sentenced to life
30 imprisonment without parole upon conviction for the crime of murder in
31 the first degree as defined in section 125.27 of this chapter and in
32 accordance with the procedures provided by law for imposing a sentence
33 for such crime, except that a defendant must be sentenced to life impri-
34 sonment without parole upon conviction for the crime of murder in the
35 first degree as defined in subparagraph (i), (ii), (ii-a), (iii) or (iv)
36 of paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section 125.27 of this chapter.
37 A defendant must be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole upon
38 conviction for the crime of murder in the second degree as defined in
39 subdivision six of section 125.25 of this chapter. A defendant who was
40 eighteen years of age or older at the time of the commission of the
41 crime must be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole upon
42 conviction for the crime of terrorism as defined in section 490.25 of
43 this chapter, where the specified offense the defendant committed is a
44 class A-I felony; the crime of criminal possession of a chemical weapon
45 or biological weapon in the first degree as defined in section 490.45 of
46 this chapter; or the crime of criminal use of a chemical weapon or
47 biological weapon in the first degree as defined in section 490.55 of
48 this chapter; provided, however, that nothing in this subdivision shall
49 preclude or prevent a sentence of death when the defendant is also
50 convicted of the crime of murder in the first degree as defined in
51 section 125.27 of this chapter. A defendant who was seventeen years of
52 age or younger at the time of the commission of the crime may be
53 sentenced, in accordance with law, to the applicable indeterminate
54 sentence with a maximum term of life imprisonment. A defendant must be
55 sentenced to life imprisonment without parole upon conviction for the
56 crime of murder in the second degree as defined in subdivision five or
A. 1480 3
1 six of section 125.25 of this chapter or for the crime of aggravated
2 murder as defined in subdivision one of section 125.26 of this chapter.
3 A defendant may be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole upon
4 conviction for the crime of aggravated murder as defined in subdivision
5 two of section 125.26 of this chapter.
6 § 3. Subdivision 5 of section 125.25 of the penal law, as amended by
7 chapter 23 of the laws of 2024, is amended and a new subdivision 6 is
8 added to read as follows:
9 5. Being eighteen years old or more, while in the course of committing
10 rape in the first, second or third degree, a crime formerly defined in
11 section 130.50, 130.45 or 130.40 of this title, the crime of sexual
12 abuse in the first degree, aggravated sexual abuse in the first, second,
13 third or fourth degree, or incest in the first, second or third degree,
14 against a person less than fourteen years old, [he or she] such person
15 intentionally causes the death of such person[.]; or
16 6. Acting either alone or with one or more other persons, such person
17 commits or attempts to commit robbery, burglary, kidnapping, arson, rape
18 in the first degree, criminal sexual act in the first degree, sexual
19 abuse in the first degree, aggravated sexual abuse, escape in the first
20 degree, or escape in the second degree, and, in the course of and in
21 furtherance of such crime or of immediate flight therefrom, such person,
22 or another participant, if there be any, intentionally causes the death
23 of: a police officer as defined in subdivision thirty-four of section
24 1.20 of the criminal procedure law; a peace officer as defined in para-
25 graph a of subdivision twenty-one, subdivision twenty-three, twenty-four
26 or sixty-two (employees of the division for youth) of section 2.10 of
27 the criminal procedure law; a firefighter; emergency medical technician,
28 ambulance driver, paramedic, physician or registered nurse involved in a
29 first response team, or any other individual who, in the course of offi-
30 cial duties, performs emergency response; or an employee of a state
31 correctional institution or was an employee of a local correctional
32 facility as defined in subdivision two of section forty of the
33 correction law, when such person was engaged in the course of performing
34 their official duties.
35 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
