Mosley, Zebrowski, Cook, Pellegrino, Englebright, Bronson, D'Urso, Taylor, Pheffer Amato, Wallace,
Simon, Rosenthal D, De La Rosa, Galef, Hunter, Stirpe
MLTSPNSR
Amd §§125.25, 125.26 & 125.27, Pen L
Limits the extreme emotional disturbance affirmative defense by removing the discovery, knowledge or disclosure of the victim's sexual orientation, sex, gender or sex assigned at birth from the defense.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9705
IN ASSEMBLY
February 2, 2018
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BARNWELL -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to limiting the extreme
emotional disturbance affirmative defense
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 125.25 of the
2 penal law, as amended by chapter 791 of the laws of 1967, is amended to
3 read as follows:
4 (a) The defendant acted under the influence of extreme emotional
5 disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, the
6 reasonableness of which is to be determined from the viewpoint of a
7 person in the defendant's situation under the circumstances as the
8 defendant believed them to be, provided, however, it shall not be an
9 affirmative defense that the defendant acted under the influence of
10 extreme emotional disturbance upon the discovery, knowledge or disclo-
11 sure of the victim's sexual orientation, sex, gender or sex assigned at
12 birth. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall constitute a defense
13 to a prosecution for, or preclude a conviction of, manslaughter in the
14 first degree or any other crime; or
15 § 2. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 125.26 of the penal
16 law, as added by chapter 765 of the laws of 2005 and such subdivision as
17 renumbered by chapter 482 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as
18 follows:
19 (a) The defendant acted under the influence of extreme emotional
20 disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, the
21 reasonableness of which is to be determined from the viewpoint of a
22 person in the defendant's situation under the circumstances as the
23 defendant believed them to be, provided, however, it shall not be an
24 affirmative defense that the defendant acted under the influence of
25 extreme emotional disturbance upon the discovery, knowledge or disclo-
26 sure of the victim's sexual orientation, sex, gender or sex assigned at
27 birth. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall constitute a defense
28 to a prosecution for, or preclude a conviction of, aggravated
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14569-02-8
A. 9705 2
1 manslaughter in the first degree, manslaughter in the first degree or
2 any other crime except murder in the second degree; or
3 § 3. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 125.27 of the penal
4 law, as added by chapter 367 of the laws of 1974, is amended to read as
5 follows:
6 (a) The defendant acted under the influence of extreme emotional
7 disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, the
8 reasonableness of which is to be determined from the viewpoint of a
9 person in the defendant's situation under the circumstances as the
10 defendant believed them to be, provided, however, it shall not be an
11 affirmative defense that the defendant acted under the influence of
12 extreme emotional disturbance upon the discovery, knowledge or disclo-
13 sure of the victim's sexual orientation, sex, gender or sex assigned at
14 birth. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall constitute a defense
15 to a prosecution for, or preclude a conviction of, manslaughter in the
16 first degree or any other crime except murder in the second degree; or
17 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
