Bill Text: NY A10564 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Includes intentionally selecting a victim based on certain actual or perceived traits in the crime of murder in the first degree; provides that sentence for commission of certain provisions of murder in the first degree is death or life without parole.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 10-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-07-06 - referred to codes [A10564 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A10564-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 10564 IN ASSEMBLY July 6, 2022 ___________ Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Barclay, Palmesano, Angelino, J. M. Giglio, Byrnes, Hawley, Simpson, Gallahan, Brabenec, Durso) -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes AN ACT to amend the penal law and the criminal procedure law, in relation to the commission of and sentencing for certain provisions of murder in the first degree The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subparagraph (xiii) of paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of 2 section 125.27 of the penal law, as added by chapter 300 of the laws of 3 2001, is amended and a new paragraph (xiv) is added to read as follows: 4 (xiii) the victim was killed in furtherance of an act of terrorism, as 5 defined in paragraph (b) of subdivision one of section 490.05 of this 6 chapter; [and] or 7 (xiv) the defendant intentionally selected the victim in whole or in 8 substantial part because of a belief or perception regarding the actual 9 or perceived race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender 10 identity or expression, religion, religious practice, age, disability, 11 or sexual orientation of such victim, regardless of whether such belief 12 or perception is correct; and 13 § 2. Section 60.06 of the penal law, as amended by chapter 482 of the 14 laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows: 15 § 60.06 Authorized disposition; murder in the first degree offenders; 16 aggravated murder offenders; certain murder in the second 17 degree offenders; certain terrorism offenders; criminal 18 possession of a chemical weapon or biological weapon offen- 19 ders; criminal use of a chemical weapon or biological weapon 20 offenders. 21 When a defendant is convicted of murder in the first degree as defined 22 in section 125.27 of this chapter, the court shall, in accordance with 23 the provisions of section 400.27 of the criminal procedure law, sentence 24 the defendant to death, to life imprisonment without parole in accord- 25 ance with subdivision five of section 70.00 of this title, or to a term 26 of imprisonment for a class A-I felony other than a sentence of life EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD15898-01-2A. 10564 2 1 imprisonment without parole, in accordance with subdivisions one through 2 three of section 70.00 of this title. When a person is convicted of 3 murder in the second degree as defined in subdivision five of section 4 125.25 of this chapter or of the crime of aggravated murder as defined 5 in subdivision one of section 125.26 of this chapter, or of the crime of 6 murder in the first degree as defined in subparagraph (i), (ii), (ii-a), 7 (iii), (viii), (xi), (xiii), or (xiv) of paragraph (a) of subdivision 8 one of section 125.27 of this chapter and the sentence of death is not 9 imposed the court shall sentence the defendant to life imprisonment 10 without parole in accordance with subdivision five of section 70.00 of 11 this title. When a defendant is convicted of the crime of terrorism as 12 defined in section 490.25 of this chapter, and the specified offense the 13 defendant committed is a class A-I felony offense, or when a defendant 14 is convicted of the crime of criminal possession of a chemical weapon or 15 biological weapon in the first degree as defined in section 490.45 of 16 this chapter, or when a defendant is convicted of the crime of criminal 17 use of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the first degree as 18 defined in section 490.55 of this chapter, the court shall sentence the 19 defendant to life imprisonment without parole in accordance with subdi- 20 vision five of section 70.00 of this title; provided, however, that 21 nothing in this section shall preclude or prevent a sentence of death 22 when the defendant is also convicted of murder in the first degree as 23 defined in section 125.27 of this chapter. When a defendant is convicted 24 of aggravated murder as defined in subdivision two of section 125.26 of 25 this chapter, the court shall sentence the defendant to life imprison- 26 ment without parole or to a term of imprisonment for a class A-I felony 27 other than a sentence of life imprisonment without parole, in accordance 28 with subdivisions one through three of section 70.00 of this title. 29 § 3. Subparagraph (i) of paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 30 70.00 of the penal law, as amended by chapter 107 of the laws of 2006, 31 is amended to read as follows: 32 (i) For a class A-I felony, such minimum period shall not be less than 33 fifteen years nor more than twenty-five years; provided, however, that 34 (A) where a sentence, other than a sentence of death or life imprison- 35 ment without parole, is imposed upon a defendant convicted of murder in 36 the first degree as defined in subparagraph (iv), (v), (vi), (vii), 37 (ix), (x), or (xii) of paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section 38 125.27 of this chapter such minimum period shall be not less than twenty 39 years nor more than twenty-five years, and, (B) where a sentence is 40 imposed upon a defendant convicted of murder in the second degree as 41 defined in subdivision five of section 125.25 of this chapter or 42 convicted of aggravated murder as defined in section 125.26 of this 43 chapter, or where a sentence, other than a sentence of death, is imposed 44 upon a defendant convicted of murder in the first degree as defined in 45 subparagraph (i), (ii), (ii-a), (iii), (viii), (xi), (xiii), or (xiv) of 46 paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section 125.27 of this chapter, the 47 sentence shall be life imprisonment without parole, and, (C) where a 48 sentence is imposed upon a defendant convicted of attempted murder in 49 the first degree as defined in article one hundred ten of this chapter 50 and subparagraph (i), (ii), (ii-a) or (iii) of paragraph (a) of subdivi- 51 sion one and paragraph (b) of subdivision one of section 125.27 of this 52 chapter or attempted aggravated murder as defined in article one hundred 53 ten of this chapter and section 125.26 of this chapter such minimum 54 period shall be not less than twenty years nor more than forty years.A. 10564 3 1 § 4. Subdivision 5 of section 70.00 of the penal law, as amended by 2 section 40-a of part WWW of chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, is amended 3 to read as follows: 4 5. Life imprisonment without parole. Notwithstanding any other 5 provision of law, a defendant sentenced to life imprisonment without 6 parole shall not be or become eligible for parole or conditional 7 release. For purposes of commitment and custody, other than parole and 8 conditional release, such sentence shall be deemed to be an indetermi- 9 nate sentence. A defendant may be sentenced to life imprisonment without 10 parole upon conviction for the crime of murder in the first degree as 11 defined in section 125.27 of this chapter and in accordance with the 12 procedures provided by law for imposing a sentence for such crime. A 13 defendant who was eighteen years of age or older at the time of the 14 commission of the crime must be sentenced to life imprisonment without 15 parole upon conviction for the crime of terrorism as defined in section 16 490.25 of this chapter, where the specified offense the defendant 17 committed is a class A-I felony; the crime of criminal possession of a 18 chemical weapon or biological weapon in the first degree as defined in 19 section 490.45 of this chapter; or the crime of criminal use of a chemi- 20 cal weapon or biological weapon in the first degree as defined in 21 section 490.55 of this chapter; provided, however, that nothing in this 22 subdivision shall preclude or prevent a sentence of death when the 23 defendant is also convicted of the crime of murder in the first degree 24 as defined in section 125.27 of this chapter. A defendant who was seven- 25 teen years of age or younger at the time of the commission of the crime 26 may be sentenced, in accordance with law, to the applicable indetermi- 27 nate sentence with a maximum term of life imprisonment. A defendant must 28 be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole upon conviction for the 29 crime of murder in the second degree as defined in subdivision five of 30 section 125.25 of this chapter or for the crime of aggravated murder as 31 defined in subdivision one of section 125.26 of this chapter. A defend- 32 ant may be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole upon conviction 33 for the crime of aggravated murder as defined in subdivision two of 34 section 125.26 of this chapter or for the crime of murder in the first 35 degree as defined in subparagraph (i), (ii), (ii-a), (iii), (viii), 36 (xi), (xiii), or (xiv) of paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section 37 125.27 of this chapter and the sentence of death is not imposed. 38 § 5. Subdivisions 1 and 10 of section 400.27 of the criminal procedure 39 law, as added by chapter 1 of the laws of 1995, are amended to read as 40 follows: 41 1. Upon [the] conviction of a defendant for the offense of murder in 42 the first degree as defined by subparagraph (i), (ii), (ii-a), (iii), 43 (viii), (xi), (xiii), or (xiv) of paragraph (a) of subdivision one of 44 section 125.27 of the penal law, the court shall promptly conduct a 45 separate sentencing proceeding to determine whether the defendant shall 46 be sentenced to death or to life imprisonment without parole pursuant to 47 subdivision five of section 70.00 of the penal law. Nothing in this 48 section shall be deemed to preclude the people at any time from deter- 49 mining that the death penalty shall not be sought in a particular case, 50 in which case the separate sentencing proceeding shall not be conducted 51 and the court may sentence such defendant to life imprisonment without 52 parole [or to a sentence of imprisonment for the class A-I felony of53murder in the first degree other than a sentence of life imprisonment54without parole]. 55 10. (a) At the conclusion of all the evidence, the people and the 56 defendant may present argument in summation for or against the sentenceA. 10564 4 1 sought by the people. The people may deliver the first summation and the 2 defendant may then deliver the last summation. Thereafter, the court 3 shall deliver a charge to the jury on any matters appropriate in the 4 circumstances. In its charge, the court must instruct the jury that with 5 respect to each count of murder in the first degree, as defined in 6 subparagraph (i), (ii), (ii-a), (iii), (viii), (xi), (xiii), or (xiv) of 7 paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section 125.27 of the penal law, the 8 jury should consider whether or not a sentence of death should be 9 imposed and whether or not a sentence of life imprisonment without 10 parole should be imposed[, and that the jury must be unanimous with11respect to either sentence. The court must also instruct the jury that12in the event the jury fails to reach unanimous agreement with respect to13the sentence, the court will sentence the defendant to a term of impri-14sonment with a minimum term of between twenty and twenty-five years and15a maximum term of life. Following the court's charge, the jury shall16retire to consider the sentence to be imposed. Unless inconsistent with17the provisions of this section, the provisions of sections 310.10,18310.20 and 310.30 shall govern the deliberations of the jury]. 19 (b) The court must instruct the jury that the jury must be unanimous 20 with respect to the sentence to be imposed. The court must also instruct 21 the jury that in the event the jury fails to reach unanimous agreement 22 with respect to the sentence, the court will sentence the defendant to a 23 term of life imprisonment without parole. 24 (c) Following the court's charge, the jury shall retire to consider 25 the sentence to be imposed. Unless inconsistent with the provisions of 26 this section, the provisions of sections 310.10, 310.20 and 310.30 of 27 this part shall govern the deliberations of the jury. 28 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to 29 offenses committed on or after such effective date.
