2023 New York Laws › PEN - Penal › Part 3 - Specific Offenses › Title H - Offenses Against the Person Involving Physical Injury, Sexual Conduct, Restraint and Intimidation › Article 125 - Homicide and Related Offenses › 125.26 - Aggravated Murder.

§ 125.26 Aggravated murder.
A person is guilty of aggravated murder when:
1.  With intent to cause the death of another person, he or she causes
the death of such person,  or  of  a  third  person  who  was  a  person
described in subparagraph (i), (ii), (ii-a) or (iii) of paragraph (a) of
this  subdivision  engaged  at  the time of the killing in the course of
performing his or her official duties; and
(a) Either:
(i) the intended victim was a police officer as defined in subdivision
thirty-four of section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law who was at the
time of the killing engaged in the  course  of  performing  his  or  her
official  duties, and the defendant knew or reasonably should have known
that the victim was a police officer; or
(ii) the intended victim was a peace officer as defined in paragraph a
of subdivision  twenty-one,  subdivision  twenty-three,  twenty-four  or
sixty-two  (employees  of the division for youth) of section 2.10 of the
criminal procedure law who was at the time of the killing engaged in the
course of performing his or her official duties, and the defendant  knew
or  reasonably  should  have  known that the victim was such a uniformed
court officer, parole officer, probation officer,  or  employee  of  the
division for youth; or
(ii-a)  the  intended  victim  was  a  firefighter,  emergency medical
technician, ambulance driver, paramedic, physician or  registered  nurse
involved  in  a first response team, or any other individual who, in the
course of official duties, performs emergency  response  activities  and
was  engaged in such activities at the time of killing and the defendant
knew or reasonably should have known that the intended victim  was  such
firefighter,  emergency medical technician, ambulance driver, paramedic,
physician or registered nurse; or
(iii) the intended victim was an  employee  of  a  state  correctional
institution  or  was  an  employee  of  a local correctional facility as
defined in subdivision two of section forty of the correction  law,  who
was  at  the time of the killing engaged in the course of performing his
or her official duties, and the defendant knew or reasonably should have
known  that  the  victim  was  an  employee  of  a  state   correctional
institution or a local correctional facility; and
(b)  The defendant was more than eighteen years old at the time of the
commission of the crime; or
2. (a) With intent to cause the death of a person less  than  fourteen
years  old, he or she causes the death of such person, and the defendant
acted in an especially cruel and wanton manner pursuant to a  course  of
conduct intended to inflict and inflicting torture upon the victim prior
to  the victim's death. As used in this subdivision, "torture" means the
intentional and depraved infliction of extreme  physical  pain  that  is
separate  and  apart  from  the  pain  which  otherwise  would have been
associated with such cause of death; and
(b) The defendant was more than eighteen years old at the time of  the
commission of the crime.
3. In any prosecution under subdivision one or two of this section, it
is an affirmative defense that:
(a)  (i)  The defendant acted under the influence of extreme emotional
disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse,  the
reasonableness  of  which  is  to  be determined from the viewpoint of a
person in the defendant's  situation  under  the  circumstances  as  the
defendant believed them to be. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall
constitute  a defense to a prosecution for, or preclude a conviction of,
aggravated manslaughter in the first degree, manslaughter in  the  first
degree  or  any  other crime except murder in the second degree. (ii) It

shall  not  be  a  "reasonable  explanation  or  excuse"   pursuant   to
subparagraph (i) of this paragraph when the defendant's conduct resulted
from  the  discovery,  knowledge  or  disclosure  of the victim's sexual
orientation,  sex,  gender,  gender  identity,  gender expression or sex
assigned at birth; or
(b) The defendant's conduct consisted of causing  or  aiding,  without
the  use  of  duress  or  deception,  another  person to commit suicide.
Nothing contained in this paragraph shall  constitute  a  defense  to  a
prosecution for, or preclude a conviction of, aggravated manslaughter in
the  second degree, manslaughter in the second degree or any other crime
except murder in the second degree.
Aggravated murder is a class A-I felony.