BILL NUMBER: S197
SPONSOR: MARTINEZ
 
PURPOSE:
To allow for a judge to exercise their discretion to order consecutive
or concurrent sentences when an individual is convicted of multiple
counts of aggravated cruelty to animals.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Names this law "Tucker's Law."
Section 2. Subdivision 3 of section 353-a of the agriculture and markets
law as added by chapter 118 of the laws of 1999 is amended to remove the
section which calls for aggravated cruelty to be a definite sentence,
limited to two years.
Section 3. Is the enacting clause.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
In 2022, a man pleaded guilty to several acts of animal cruelty occur-
ring within weeks of each other. He fatally beat two puppies and injured
a third resulting in a lost leg. One of the deaths involved a shepherd
mix named Tucker. Tucker was adopted out from North Shore Animal League
and was then beaten so fatally he died a week later from a kidney
rupture. The man eventually admitted to intentionally inflicting deadly
blunt force trauma to Tucker and the other animals involved.
While the man committed three different crimes, he could only serve the
maximum sentence of two years in prison. Under current law, aggravated
animal cruelty carries a definite sentence of two-years regardless of
how many acts of violence are committed against multiple animals. Remov-
ing the language that requires aggravated cruelty to be treated as a
definite sentence is necessary to deter acts of violence against animals
and hold perpetrators accountable.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect in one hundred eighty days since becoming a
law.

Statutes affected:
S197: 353-a agriculture and markets law, 353-a(3) agriculture and markets law