Cuomo's 'Gay Panic' Ban Would Limit Defense, Lawmakers Say
Assemblyman Joe Lentol, a Democrat from Brooklyn who chairs the chamber's codes committee, told the New York Law Journal on Wednesday that both houses agreed to reject the Democratic governor's proposal because it would place limits on the types of defense an attorney could argue and because it would “carve out” one class of cases from the reasonableness test.
March 21, 2018 at 03:12 PM
4 minute read
ALBANY—A proposal by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to ban so-called gay and trans panic defense strategies was not included in the Senate and Assembly's budget proposals because it would place limits on defense strategies, according to a key lawmaker.
Assemblyman Joe Lentol, a Democrat from Brooklyn who chairs the chamber's codes committee, told the New York Law Journal on Wednesday that both houses agreed to reject the Democratic governor's proposal because it would place limits on the types of defense an attorney could argue and because it would “carve out” one class of cases from the reasonableness test.
The proposal unveiled by the governor in mid-February would have prohibited a defendant from being able to ask a jury to find a harmed individual's gender, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation to blame for the defendant's violent reaction. Defendants who use the so-called gay panic defense argue that the discovery of a victim's sexual orientation or gender identity can incite a panic or violent reaction.
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