Senate Bill S3178A

                                BILL NUMBER:S3178

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the penal law, in relation to
establishing the felony offenses of aggravated assault and
manslaughter in the third degree

PURPOSE:

Enacts "Idelfonso Romero's law" to establish the new felony offenses
of aggravated assault and manslaughter in the third degree.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Provides that the law shall be called "Idelfonso Romero's
law"

Section 2: Adds a new section 120.00-a to the penal law creating the
new class E felony of aggravated assault to apply when a person
commits the current A misdemeanor offense of assault in the third
degree and the result is a serious physical injury to another person.

Section 3: Adds a new section 125.14-a to the penal law creating a new
third degree level of manslaughter, a class D felony, to apply when a
person intends to cause a physical injury to another person and the
result is the death of such person or a third person.

              

Section 4: Effective date

JUSTIFICATION:

This legislation is named in memory of Idelfonso Romero, a 59-year-old
man who was killed in June 2014 by a single punch to the head while
trying to break up a fight outside his Bronx home. Despite the fact
the Mr. Romero's killer committed an intentional assault that resulted
in his death, he was charged with the misdemeanor offense of third
degree assault because the crime was committed without the use of a
deadly weapon or dangerous instrument and with no evidence of an
intent to cause serious physical injury or death. Under current law, a
death caused by recklessness or criminally negligent conduct is
punished far more severely, as the class C felony of second degree
manslaughter or the class E felony of criminally negligent homicide
respectively, than a death caused by an intentional act intended to
cause an ordinary physical injury.

A similar loophole exists in those cases in which a victim is not
killed but suffers a serious physical injury because the class D
felony of second degree assault requires proof of an intent to cause a
serious physical injury or the use of a deadly weapon or dangerous
instrument.

The increasing trend of one-punch attacks designed to knock out their
victims with a single blow to the head shows no sign of slowing down,
as evidenced by police reports and the widespread availability of
video tutorials on the internet. This bill would increase the
penalties for these intentional attacks from an A misdemeanor to an E
felony if a serious injury occurs and to a D felony if the attack
kills its victim. Such penalties reflect our growing understanding of


the dangers of head trauma and the damage that can be inflicted with a
single punch, and will finally treat these crimes as the life
threatening acts they truly are.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding
the date on which it shall have become a law.