Provides that it shall not be an affirmative defense for murder that the defendant's conduct resulted substantially from the discovery, knowledge or disclosure of the victim's sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression or sex assigned at birth.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8375
SPONSOR: O'Donnell TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the penal law, in relation to affirma-
tive defenses to certain homicide offenses
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To clarify that, for the purposes of the "extreme emotional disturbance"
affirmative defense that may, in some instances, reduce a homicide
charge from murder to manslaughter, it is a not an available explanation
or excuse when the defendant's conduct resulted from the discovery of
the victim's sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender
expression or sex assigned at birth.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill amends paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section
125.25 of the Penal Law to clarify that, for the purposes of the
"extreme emotional disturbance" affirmative defense that may, in some
instances, reduce a homicide charge from murder to manslaughter, it is a
not a reasonable explanation or excuse when the defendant's conduct
resulted from the discovery of the victim's sexual orientation, sex,
gender, gender identity, gender expression or sex assigned at birth.
Section 2 amends paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 125.26 of the
Penal Law to clarify that, for the purposes of the "extreme emotional
disturbance" affirmative defense that may, in some instances, reduce a
homicide charge from murder to manslaughter, it is a not a reasonable
explanation or excuse when the defendant's conduct resulted from the
discovery of the victim's sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender iden-
tity, gender expression or sex assigned at birth.
Section 3 amends paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 125.27 of the
Penal Law to clarify that, for the purposes of the "extreme emotional
disturbance" affirmative defense that may, in some instances, reduce a
homicide charge from murder to manslaughter, it is a not a reasonable
explanation or excuse when the defendant's conduct resulted from the
discovery of the victim's sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender iden-
tity, gender expression or sex assigned at birth.
Section 4 provides that the legislation will take effect immediately.
JUSTIFICATION:
In August 2013, the American Bar Association approved 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 homicidal acts on the grounds that the victim's sexual orien-
tation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression or sex assigned
at birth played a role in causing the crime to be committed.
Under current New York State law, the Penal Law provides an affirmative
defense that may reduce the crime of murder 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 may allow prosecution of certain violent homi-
cidal acts - acts which would otherwise meet the elements of murder --
as lesser homicide crimes. Such a result should not be permitted when
the defendant's actions resulted from the discovery, knowledge or
disclosure of the victim's sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender iden-
tity, gender expression or sex assigned at birth.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.5467 (2015-16); A.5001 (2017-18)
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8375
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
June 15, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. O'DONNELL -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to affirmative defenses to
certain homicide offenses
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) (i) 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. Nothing contained in this paragraph
9 shall constitute a defense to a prosecution for, or preclude a
10 conviction of, manslaughter in the first degree or any other crime. (ii)
11 It shall not be a "reasonable explanation or excuse" pursuant to subpar-
12 agraph (i) of this paragraph when the defendant's conduct resulted from
13 the discovery, knowledge or disclosure of the victim's sexual orien-
14 tation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression or sex assigned
15 at birth; or
16 § 2. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 125.26 of the penal
17 law, as added by chapter 765 of the laws of 2005, such subdivision as
18 renumbered by chapter 482 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as
19 follows:
20 (a) (i) The defendant acted under the influence of extreme emotional
21 disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, the
22 reasonableness of which is to be determined from the viewpoint of a
23 person in the defendant's situation under the circumstances as the
24 defendant believed them to be. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall
25 constitute a defense to a prosecution for, or preclude a conviction of,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13325-04-9
A. 8375 2
1 aggravated manslaughter in the first degree, manslaughter in the first
2 degree or any other crime except murder in the second degree. (ii) It
3 shall not be a "reasonable explanation or excuse" pursuant to subpara-
4 graph (i) of this paragraph when the defendant's conduct resulted from
5 the discovery, knowledge or disclosure of the victim's sexual orien-
6 tation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression or sex assigned
7 at birth; or
8 § 3. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 125.27 of the penal
9 law, as added by chapter 367 of the laws of 1974, is amended to read as
10 follows:
11 (a) (i) The defendant acted under the influence of extreme emotional
12 disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, the
13 reasonableness of which is to be determined from the viewpoint of a
14 person in the defendant's situation under the circumstances as the
15 defendant believed them to be. Nothing contained in this paragraph
16 shall constitute a defense to a prosecution for, or preclude a
17 conviction of, manslaughter in the first degree or any other crime
18 except murder in the second degree. (ii) It shall not be a "reasonable
19 explanation or excuse" pursuant to subparagraph (i) of this paragraph
20 when the defendant's conduct resulted from the discovery, knowledge or
21 disclosure of the victim's sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender iden-
22 tity, gender expression or sex assigned at birth; or
23 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
