Text of NY A 9705 (2018)

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.