Assemblyman John McKeon. Photo by Carmen Natale

A bill to ban the use of a "gay or trans panic" defense in criminal cases in New Jersey courts, where a defendant claims provocation by sudden knowledge of the victim's sexual orientation or gender, passed the full Assembly on Monday by 76-0 on a concurrence vote.

Sponsored by Assembly Democrats John McKeon, D-Essex, and Joann Downey, D-Monmouth, A-1796 would prohibit the use of the defense in connection with charges of murder.

With the Senate version of the bill passing the upper chamber last month, the measure now heads to Gov. Phil Murphy's desk for signature. If enacted, the Garden State joins New York, Hawaii, California, Rhode Island, Illinois, Nevada and Connecticut, which all have signed similar legislation into law.

"The 'gay panic or trans panic' defense is not a freestanding defense to criminal liability, but rather a legal tactic. It's used to diminish the reason for a defendant's violent reaction that asks a jury to find a victim's sexual orientation or gender/expression as the cause," said McKeon in a statement after the Assembly vote.

"Whether the person was gay, transgender or heterosexual, sexual orientation should not have any bearing on determining a person's guilt in a murder trial. It is prejudiced against the LGBTQ community," added McKeon.

"This bill is a major step forward in addressing discrimination in our court system, and showing New Jersey's LGBTQ community that we stand with them in solidarity against any type of discrimination and hatred," Downey said in the same release.

Current law provides that a homicide that would otherwise be murder is reduced to manslaughter if the jury finds that the homicide was committed "in the heat of passion" resulting from a reasonable provocation. A defendant in such cases might claim that the discovery of, knowledge about, or potential disclosure of the homicide victim's actual or perceived gender identity or expression, or affectional or sexual orientation, caused the reaction, as stated in the bill.

Provoked heat-of-passion manslaughter is a crime of the second degree punishable by five to 10 years' imprisonment, a fine of up to $150,000, or both; while murder is a first-degree crime, punishable by 30 years to life behind bars and a fine of up to $200,000, or both, according to the bill.

Sponsors say the legislation was motivated in part by a New York trial resulting from the death of Islan Nettles. Nettles was beaten to death in Harlem in 2013 after defendant James Dixon discovered Nettles was a transgender woman. At the 2016 trial, Dixon attempted to justify his violence by arguing Nettles provoked him, according to reports. Dixon, originally of Brooklyn and now 29, was convicted and is serving 12 years in jail.

The Senate version of the bill, S-2609, is sponsored by Sens. Joseph Lagana, D-Bergen, and Vin Gopal, D-Monmouth, with Troy Singleton, D-Burlington, as a co-sponsor.

The Assembly measure originally passed the Assembly on Nov. 25 by a 74-0 vote. The Senate version, S-2609, was substituted for A-1796, and reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with amendments on Dec. 12. It passed the Senate 39-0 on Dec. 16.

On Jan. 6, S-2609 was received in the Assembly on second reading on concurrence. The concurrence vote on Monday, meaning the Assembly agreed with the Senate changes, gave it the final House passage it needed to send to Murphy.

Tom Prol, the first openly gay president of the New Jersey State Bar Association and a founding and current executive board member of Asbury Park-based LGBTQ-rights organization Garden State Equality, said he was gratified the bill was one step closer to becoming a reality.

"I am grateful that the Legislature has finally ended the absurd gay and trans panic defense for killing LGBTQ people. This discriminatory legal strategy previously allowed murderers of LGBTQ people to use bigotry as a defense and blame their victim. Garden State Equality will never give up in stopping excuses [for] criminal acts against our community. Now, no New Jersey jury will hear that an LGBTQ person 'had it coming' if they are murdered simply because of who they are," said Prol, a partner at Sills Cummis & Gross in Newark, in an email to the Law Journal on Monday.

Prol, who is also a member of the American Bar Association's governing body, was the sole person to testify in support of the legislation before the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Nov. 18 and the Senate Judiciary Committee on Dec. 5. No group or person testified against the bill.

The bill takes effect immediately after enactment.