N.Y. PEN Law § 125.26 — New York Code / Act PEN / Part 3 / Title H / Article 125 / Section 125.26
Aggravated murder
Status: in_force

§ 125.26 Aggravated murder.\n  A person is guilty of aggravated murder when:\n  1. With intent to cause the death of another person, he or she causes\nthe death of such person, or of a third person who was a person\ndescribed in subparagraph (i), (ii), (ii-a) or (iii) of paragraph (a) of\nthis subdivision engaged at the time of the killing in the course of\nperforming his or her official duties; and\n  (a) Either:\n  (i) the intended victim was a police officer as defined in subdivision\nthirty-four of section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law who was at the\ntime of the killing engaged in the course of performing his or her\nofficial duties, and the defendant knew or reasonably should have known\nthat the victim was a police officer; or\n  (ii) the intended victim was a peace officer as defined in paragraph a\nof subdivision twenty-one, subdivision twenty-three, twenty-four or\nsixty-two (employees of the division for youth) of section 2.10 of the\ncriminal procedure law who was at the time of the killing engaged in the\ncourse of performing his or her official duties, and the defendant knew\nor reasonably should have known that the victim was such a uniformed\ncourt officer, parole officer, probation officer, or employee of the\ndivision for youth; or\n  (ii-a) the intended victim was a firefighter, emergency medical\ntechnician, ambulance driver, paramedic, physician or registered nurse\ninvolved in a first response team, or any other individual who, in the\ncourse of official duties, performs emergency response activities and\nwas engaged in such activities at the time of killing and the defendant\nknew or reasonably should have known that the intended victim was such\nfirefighter, emergency medical technician, ambulance driver, paramedic,\nphysician or registered nurse; or\n  (iii) the intended victim was an employee of a state correctional\ninstitution or was an employee of a local correctional facility as\ndefined in subdivision two of section forty of the correction law, who\nwas at the time of the killing engaged in the course of performing his\nor her official duties, and the defendant knew or reasonably should have\nknown that the victim was an employee of a state correctional\ninstitution or a local correctional facility; and\n  (b) The defendant was more than eighteen years old at the time of the\ncommission of the crime; or\n  2. (a) With intent to cause the death of a person less than fourteen\nyears old, he or she causes the death of such person, and the defendant\nacted in an especially cruel and wanton manner pursuant to a course of\nconduct intended to inflict and inflicting torture upon the victim prior\nto the victim's death. As used in this subdivision, "torture" means the\nintentional and depraved infliction of extreme physical pain that is\nseparate and apart from the pain which otherwise would have been\nassociated with such cause of death; and\n  (b) The defendant was more than eighteen years old at the time of the\ncommission of the crime.\n  3. In any prosecution under subdivision one or two of this section, it\nis an affirmative defense that:\n  (a) (i) The defendant acted under the influence of extreme emotional\ndisturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, the\nreasonableness of which is to be determined from the viewpoint of a\nperson in the defendant's situation under the circumstances as the\ndefendant believed them to be. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall\nconstitute a defense to a prosecution for, or preclude a conviction of,\naggravated manslaughter in the first degree, manslaughter in the first\ndegree or any other crime except murder in the second degree. (ii) It\nshall not be a "reasonable explanation or excuse" pursuant to\nsubparagraph (i) of this paragraph when the defendant's conduct resulted\nfrom the discovery, knowledge or disclosure of the victim's sexual\norientation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression or sex\nassigned at birth; or\n  (b) The defendant's conduct consisted of causing or aiding, without\nthe use of duress or deception, another person to commit suicide.\nNothing contained in this paragraph shall constitute a defense to a\nprosecution for, or preclude a conviction of, aggravated manslaughter in\nthe second degree, manslaughter in the second degree or any other crime\nexcept murder in the second degree.\n  Aggravated murder is a class A-I felony.\n