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.

In a news release announcing his proposal, Cuomo mentioned the 2013 death of Islan Nettles, a transgender woman who died after being beaten by James Dixon, who was flirting with the victim on a Harlem street and became enraged upon being told by his friends that she was transgender. Dixon pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years behind bars. Nettles' family and advocates argued that Dixon received a lenient sentencing because his attorneys presented a trans panic defense.

Lentol added that juries seldom get instructions to consider gay or trans panic defenses from judges and that attorneys should have the discretion to use the strategy “when necessary.”

Eric Lesh, executive director of the LGBT Bar Association of New York, said in an email that gay and trans panic defenses have “absolutely no place in our justice system and should be kept out of the courtroom.”

“Banning these harmful defenses will help to curb explicit anti-LGBT bias in open court. But this is not enough. There is still the very real possibility that subconscious or implicit bias can find its way into the courtroom and affect the outcome of a case,” Lesh added. “The challenge of addressing implicit bias, however, is no reason to oppose efforts to ban these victim-blaming defenses.”

While a spokesman for the Republican-led state Senate did not comment on why the chamber rejected the governor's proposal, it's still subject to budget negotiations between the executive, senate and the assembly. A final fiscal plan for the upcoming fiscal year is due by April 1.

While it appears that both houses of the Legislature declined include the governor's proposal in their budgets, the LGBT Bar Association of New York will continue to “educate the legal community” and elected officials on the perils of using gay and trans defense strategies, Lesh said. Judges can also “refuse to admit evidence and arguments that attempt to invoke gay or trans 'panic.' Attorneys should object to the introduction of evidence designed to support these claims,” he added.

Efforts to reach the New York Criminal Bar Association were not immediately successful. Assemblyman Danny O'Donnell, a New York City Democrat, carries a legislation that would ban trans and gay panic defenses. O'Donnell, a former public defender at the Legal Aid Society, did not reply to request for comment.