Enacts "Tucker's law"; removes the provision that provides that any term of imprisonment for a violation of aggravated cruelty to animals may not exceed two years.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8211
SPONSOR: Lunsford TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to sentenc-
ing for the crime of aggravated cruelty to animals
PURPOSE:
To allow for a judge to exercise their discretion to order consecutive
or concurrent sentences when an individual is convicted of multiple
counts of aggravated cruelty to animals.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Names this law "Tucker's Law."
Section 2. Subdivision 3 of section 353-a of the agriculture and markets
law as added by chapter 118 of the laws of 1999 is amended to remove the
section which calls for aggravated cruelty to be a definite sentence,
limited to two years:
Section 3. Is the enacting clause.
JUSTIFICATION:
In 2022, a man plead guilty to several acts of animal cruelty occurring
within weeks of each other. He fatally beat two puppies and injured a
third resulting in a lost leg. One of the deaths involved a shepherd mix
named Tucker. Tucker was adopted out from North Shore Animal League and
was then beaten so fatally he died a week later from a kidney rupture.
The man eventually admitted to intentionally inflicting deadly blunt
force trauma to Tucker and the other animals involved.
While the man committed three different crimes, he could only serve the
maximum sentence of two years in prison. Under current law, aggravated
animal cruelty carries a definite sentence of two-years regardless of
how many acts of violence are committed against multiple animals. Remov-
ing the language that requires aggravated cruelty to be treated as a
definite sentence is necessary to deter acts of violence against animals
and hold perpetrators accountable.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect in one hundred eighty days since becoming a
law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8211
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
October 27, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LUNSFORD -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Agriculture
AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to sentenc-
ing for the crime of aggravated cruelty to animals
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 "Tucker's law".
3 § 2. Subdivision 3 of section 353-a of the agriculture and markets
4 law, as added by chapter 118 of the laws of 1999, is amended to read as
5 follows:
6 3. Aggravated cruelty to animals is a felony. A defendant convicted of
7 this offense shall be sentenced pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision
8 one of section 55.10 of the penal law [provided, however, that any term
9 of imprisonment imposed for violation of this section shall be a defi-
10 nite sentence, which may not exceed two years].
11 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
12 it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06572-01-3
