Bill Text: NY S01127 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Allows for the conditional examination of victims who are at least 75 years of age; amends the definition of larceny to ensure that alleged consent by a victim who is mentally disabled is a not a defense to larceny; permits a caregiver to accompany a vulnerable victim into the grand jury.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO CODES [S01127 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S01127-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          1127

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 10, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens. SKOUFIS, THOMAS -- read twice and ordered printed,
          and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes

        AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation  to  conditional
          examination  of  seniors  before trial and a senior's participation in
          grand jury proceedings; and to amend the penal  law,  in  relation  to
          defenses to larceny when the victim is mentally disabled

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 660.20 of the  criminal  procedure
     2  law is amended to read as follows:
     3    2. Will not be amenable or responsive to legal process or available as
     4  a  witness  at a time when his or her testimony will be sought, [either]
     5  because he or she is:
     6    (a)  About to leave the state and not return for a substantial  period
     7  of time; [or]
     8    (b)  Physically ill or incapacited[.]; or
     9    (c)  Of an advanced age, which for the purposes of this section, shall
    10  mean seventy-five years of age or older.
    11    § 2. Section 155.00 of the penal law is amended by adding a new subdi-
    12  vision 10 to read as follows:
    13    10. "Mentally disabled" means that a  person  suffers  from  a  mental
    14  disease,  defect  or  condition  which  renders  him or her incapable of
    15  appraising the nature of the conduct constituting the taking,  obtaining
    16  or withholding of his or her property.
    17    § 3. Section 155.10 of the penal law is amended to read as follows:
    18  § 155.10 Larceny; no defense.
    19    1.  The  crimes  of (a) larceny committed by means of extortion and an
    20  attempt to commit the same, and (b) bribe receiving by a labor  official
    21  as  defined in section 180.20, and bribe receiving as defined in section
    22  200.05, are not mutually exclusive, and it is no  defense  to  a  prose-
    23  cution  for larceny committed by means of extortion or for an attempt to

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03737-01-3
        S. 1127                             2

     1  commit the same that, by reason of the same conduct, the defendant  also
     2  committed one of such specified crimes of bribe receiving.
     3    2.  It  is  no defense to a prosecution for larceny that the defendant
     4  obtained consent to take,  withhold,  or  obtain  property,  where  such
     5  consent was obtained from a person whom the defendant knew or had reason
     6  to know was mentally disabled.
     7    §  4. Paragraph (h) of subdivision 3 of section 190.25 of the criminal
     8  procedure law, as amended by chapter 347 of the laws of 2014, is amended
     9  and a new paragraph (i) is added to read as follows:
    10    (h) A social worker, rape  crisis  counselor,  psychologist  or  other
    11  professional providing emotional support to a child witness twelve years
    12  old  or  younger[, or a social worker or informal caregiver, as provided
    13  in subdivision two of section two hundred six of the elder  law,  for  a
    14  vulnerable  elderly  person  as provided in subdivision three of section
    15  260.31 of the penal law,] who is called to give evidence in a grand jury
    16  proceeding concerning a crime defined in article one hundred twenty-one,
    17  article one hundred thirty, article two hundred sixty,  section  120.10,
    18  125.10, 125.15, 125.20, 125.25, 125.26, 125.27, 255.25, 255.26 or 255.27
    19  of  the  penal  law  provided  that the district attorney consents. Such
    20  support person shall not provide the witness with an answer to any ques-
    21  tion or otherwise participate in such proceeding and shall first take an
    22  oath before the grand jury that he or she will keep secret  all  matters
    23  before such grand jury within his or her knowledge.
    24    (i)  A  social worker or informal caregiver, as defined in subdivision
    25  two of section two hundred six of the elder law, for a vulnerable elder-
    26  ly person as defined in subdivision three of section 260.31 of the penal
    27  law, as added by chapter three hundred eighty-one of the laws  of  nine-
    28  teen  hundred  ninety-eight,  who  is called to give evidence in a grand
    29  jury proceeding,   concerning any type of  offense,  provided  that  the
    30  district  attorney  consents.  Such support person shall not provide the
    31  witness with an answer to any question or otherwise participate in  such
    32  proceeding and shall first take an oath before the grand jury that he or
    33  she  will  keep  secret all matters before such grand jury within his or
    34  her knowledge.
    35    § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.