Bill Text: NY S04994 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Creates crimes of cemetery desecration of a veteran as a class E felony; makes corresponding changes in cemetery desecration crimes in the first and second degrees and aggravated cemetery desecration in the first degree; makes additional penal provisions.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 13-4)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-06-12 - referred to codes [S04994 Detail]
Download: New_York-2017-S04994-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4994 2017-2018 Regular Sessions IN SENATE March 3, 2017 ___________ Introduced by Sens. LARKIN, ADDABBO, AVELLA, BONACIC, CARLUCCI, CROCI, DeFRANCISCO, GALLIVAN, MARCHIONE, ORTT, RITCHIE, SERINO, SEWARD, VALE- SKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be commit- ted to the Committee on Codes AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to cemetery desecration and cemetery desecration of a veteran The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 145.22 of the penal law, as amended by chapter 353 2 of the laws of 2007, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 145.22 Cemetery desecration in the second degree. 4 A person is guilty of cemetery desecration in the second degree when: 5 (a) with intent to damage property of another person[,] and having no 6 right to do so nor any reasonable ground to believe that he or she has 7 such right, he or she damages any real or personal property used or 8 maintained as a cemetery, mausoleum, columbarium, lot, plot, grave, 9 burial place, niche, crypt, vault or other place of interment or tempo- 10 rary storage of human remains or cremated human remains, or any monu- 11 ment, headstone, marker, memorial, plaque, statue, vase, urn, deco- 12 ration, flag holder, badge, shield, item of memorabilia, or other 13 embellishment that is located on or adjacent to, or is otherwise associ- 14 ated with, any such cemetery, mausoleum, columbarium, lot, plot, grave, 15 burial place, niche, crypt, vault, or other place of interment or tempo- 16 rary storage; or 17 (b) with intent to steal personal property, he or she steals personal 18 property which is located at a cemetery, mausoleum, columbarium, lot, 19 plot, grave, burial place, niche, crypt, vault or other place of inter- 20 ment or temporary storage of human remains or cremated human remains, or 21 any monument, headstone, marker, memorial, plaque, statue, vase, urn, 22 decoration, flag holder, badge, shield, item of memorabilia, or other 23 embellishment that is located on or adjacent to, or is otherwise associ- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00939-01-7S. 4994 2 1 ated with, any such cemetery, mausoleum, columbarium, lot, plot, grave, 2 burial place, niche, crypt, vault, or other place of interment or tempo- 3 rary storage, and which property is owned by the person or organization 4 which maintains or owns such place or the estate, next-of-kin or repre- 5 sentatives of the deceased person interred or stored there. 6 Cemetery desecration in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor. 7 § 2. Section 145.23 of the penal law, as amended by chapter 353 of the 8 laws of 2007, is amended to read as follows: 9 § 145.23 Cemetery desecration in the first degree. 10 A person is guilty of cemetery desecration in the first degree when, 11 with intent to damage property of another person[,] and having no right 12 to do so nor any reasonable ground to believe that he or she has such 13 right, he or she: 14 (a) damages any real or personal property used or maintained as a 15 cemetery, mausoleum, columbarium, lot, plot, grave, burial place, niche, 16 crypt, vault or other place of interment or temporary storage of human 17 remains or cremated human remains, or any monument, headstone, marker, 18 memorial, plaque, statue, vase, urn, decoration, flag holder, badge, 19 shield, item of memorabilia, or other embellishment that is located on 20 or adjacent to, or is otherwise associated with, any such cemetery, 21 mausoleum, columbarium, lot, plot, grave, burial place, niche, crypt, 22 vault, or other place of interment or temporary storage, in an amount 23 exceeding two hundred fifty dollars; or 24 (b) with intent to steal personal property, he or she steals personal 25 property, the value of which exceeds two hundred fifty dollars, which is 26 located at a cemetery, mausoleum, columbarium, lot, plot, grave, burial 27 place, niche, crypt, vault or other place of interment or temporary 28 storage of human remains or cremated human remains, or any monument, 29 headstone, marker, memorial, plaque, statue, vase, urn, decoration, flag 30 holder, badge, shield, item of memorabilia, or other embellishment that 31 is located on or adjacent to, or is otherwise associated with, any such 32 cemetery, mausoleum, columbarium, lot, plot, grave, burial place, niche, 33 crypt, vault, or other place of interment or temporary storage, and 34 which property is owned by the person or organization which maintains or 35 owns such place or the estate, next-of-kin or representatives of the 36 deceased person interred there; or 37 (c) commits the crime of cemetery desecration in the second degree as 38 defined in section 145.22 of this article and has been previously 39 convicted of the crime of cemetery desecration in the second degree, 40 cemetery desecration in the first degree, aggravated cemetery dese- 41 cration in the second degree, aggravated cemetery desecration in the 42 first degree or cemetery desecration of a veteran within the preceding 43 five years. 44 Cemetery desecration in the first degree is a class E felony. 45 § 3. Section 145.27 of the penal law, as added by chapter 376 of the 46 laws of 2007, is amended to read as follows: 47 § 145.27 Aggravated cemetery desecration in the first degree. 48 A person is guilty of aggravated cemetery desecration in the first 49 degree when such person commits the crime of aggravated cemetery dese- 50 cration in the second degree and has been previously convicted within 51 the past five years of the crime of cemetery desecration in the second 52 degree as defined in section 145.22 of this article, cemetery dese- 53 cration in the first degree as defined in section 145.23 of this article 54 [or], aggravated cemetery desecration in the second degree as defined in 55 section 145.26 of this article or cemetery desecration of a veteran as 56 defined in section 145.29 of this article.S. 4994 3 1 Aggravated cemetery desecration in the first degree is a class D felo- 2 ny. 3 § 4. The penal law is amended by adding two new sections 145.28 and 4 145.29 to read as follows: 5 § 145.28 Cemetery desecration of a veteran; definition of "veteran". 6 For the purposes of section 145.29 of this article, the term "veteran" 7 means a deceased person who: 8 1. (a) served in the active military, naval, or air service during a 9 war in which the United States engaged; or 10 (b) served in the reserve component of the armed forces, the organized 11 militia of the state; or 12 (c) is eligible to receive a standard government headstone or marker 13 for installation in a private cemetery or a state veterans' cemetery 14 provided by the United States department of veterans affairs who served 15 in the United States armed forces; and 16 2. was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than 17 dishonorable. 18 For the purposes of this section "reserve component of the armed forc- 19 es of the United States" means the army reserve, the naval reserve, the 20 marine corps reserve, the air force reserve, the coast guard reserve, 21 the army national guard of the United States and the air national guard 22 of the United States and whose service was during a war in which the 23 United States engaged. Organized militia of the state, shall mean 24 service other than permanent, full-time service in the military forces 25 of the state of New York including but not limited to the New York army 26 national guard, the New York air national guard, the naval militia and 27 the New York guard (not including the inactive national guard and not 28 including the New York guard in an inactive status). 29 § 145.29 Cemetery desecration of a veteran. 30 A person is guilty of cemetery desecration of a veteran when, with 31 intent to damage the property of another person and having no right to 32 do so nor any reasonable ground to believe that he or she has such 33 right, he or she intentionally damages: 34 (a) any real or personal property that he or she knows is used or 35 maintained as a cemetery, mausoleum, columbarium, lot, plot, grave, 36 burial place, niche, crypt, vault or other place of interment or tempo- 37 rary storage place of a veteran; or 38 (b) any monument, headstone, marker, memorial, plaque, statue, vase, 39 urn, decoration, flag holder, badge, shield, item of memorabilia or 40 other embellishment that is located on or adjacent to, or is otherwise 41 associated with, any such cemetery, mausoleum, columbarium, lot, plot, 42 grave, burial place, niche, crypt, vault or other place of interment or 43 temporary storage that he or she knows belongs to a veteran. 44 Cemetery desecration of a veteran is a class E felony. 45 § 5. Section 60.29 of the penal law, as added by chapter 165 of the 46 laws of 1997, is amended to read as follows: 47 § 60.29 Authorized disposition; cemetery desecration. 48 When a person is convicted of an offense defined in section 145.22 49 [or], 145.23 or 145.29 of this chapter or of an attempt to commit such 50 an offense, and the sentence imposed by the court for such conviction 51 includes a sentence of probation or conditional discharge, such sentence 52 shall, where appropriate, be in accordance with paragraph (h) of subdi- 53 vision two of section 65.10 of this [article] title as such section 54 relates to cemetery crime.S. 4994 4 1 § 6. Paragraph (h) of subdivision 2 of section 65.10 of the penal law, 2 as amended by chapter 508 of the laws of 2001, is amended to read as 3 follows: 4 (h) Perform services for a public or not-for-profit corporation, asso- 5 ciation, institution, or agency, including but not limited to services 6 for the division of substance abuse services, services in an appropriate 7 community program for removal of graffiti from public or private proper- 8 ty, including any property damaged in the underlying offense, or 9 services for the maintenance and repair of real or personal property 10 used or maintained as a cemetery, mausoleum, columbarium, lot, plot, 11 grave, burial place, niche, crypt, vault, or other place of interment or 12 temporary storage of human remains or cremated human remains, or any 13 monument, headstone, marker, memorial, plaque, statue, vase, urn, deco- 14 ration, flag holder, badge, shield, item of memorabilia, or other 15 embellishment that is located on or adjacent to, or is otherwise associ- 16 ated with, any such cemetery, mausoleum, columbarium, lot, plot, grave, 17 burial place, niche, crypt, vault, or other place of interment or tempo- 18 rary storage. Provided, however, that the performance of any such 19 services shall not result in the displacement of employed workers or in 20 the impairment of existing contracts for services, nor shall the 21 performance of any such services be required or permitted in any estab- 22 lishment involved in any labor strike or lockout. The court may estab- 23 lish provisions for the early termination of a sentence of probation or 24 conditional discharge pursuant to the provisions of subdivision three of 25 section 410.90 of the criminal procedure law after such services have 26 been completed. Such sentence may only be imposed upon conviction of a 27 misdemeanor, violation, or class D or class E felony, or a youthful 28 offender finding replacing any such conviction, where the defendant has 29 consented to the amount and conditions of such service; 30 § 7. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 31 it shall have become a law; provided, however, that the cemetery board 32 in the division of cemeteries of the department of state may promulgate 33 rules and regulations prior to such effective date to implement the 34 provisions of this act on such date.
