Senate BillIntroduced
S 5290: Requires that a defendant must be over twenty-five years old to be guilty of felony murder.
What S 5290 does, verified January 8, 2026
The bill aims to amend the Penal Law to clarify the requirements for felony murder. To be guilty of felony murder, a defendant must be over 25 years old. The bill also establishes an affirmative defense in cases where the defendant was not the only participant in the underlying crime, stating that the defendant had no reasonable ground to believe that any other participant intended to engage in conduct likely to result in death or serious physical injury. This change will take effect immediately.
Bill journey
1IntroducedCurrent
2In CommitteePending
3First Chamber FloorPending
4Second ChamberPending
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: REFERRED TO CODES (2026-01-07)Alert me
Quick answers about S 5290
- What is the current status of S 5290?
- As of January 8, 2026, S 5290 is recorded as "Introduced": it has been introduced and is waiting for its first committee hearing or floor vote. The last recorded action, on January 7, 2026, was "REFERRED TO CODES".
- Did S 5290 pass?
- Not yet. S 5290 has been introduced and has not passed either house.
- Who wrote S 5290, and where is it now?
- S 5290 was authored by Sen. Luis Sepúlveda. Its committee of record is Senate Codes.
Author and sponsors
Full contact details, staff, and committees with Connect, $16/moUnlockRecent actions2 total · showing 2
| Jan. 07, 2026 | REFERRED TO CODES |
| Feb. 20, 2025 | REFERRED TO CODES |
Latest bill textIntroduced version, February 20, 2025 · 346 words
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5290 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE February 20, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to requiring that a defendant must be over twenty-five years old to be guilty of felony murder The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The opening paragraph and paragraph (d) of subdivision 3 of 2 section 125.25 of the penal law, the opening paragraph as amended by 3 chapter 23 of the laws of 2024 and paragraph (d) as amended by chapter 4 477 of the laws of 1990, are amended to read as follows: 5 Acting either alone or with one or more other persons, [he] a defend- 6 ant being more than twenty-five years old commits or attempts to commit 7 robbery, burglary, kidnapping, arson, rape in the first degree, a crime 8 formerly defined in section 130.50 of this title, the crime of sexual 9 abuse in the first degree, aggravated sexual abuse, escape in the first 10 degree, or escape in the second degree, and, in the course of and in 11 furtherance of such crime or of immediate flight therefrom, [he] the 12 defendant, or another participant, if there be any, causes the death of 13 a person other than one of the participants; except that in any prose- 14 cution under this subdivision, in which the defendant was not the only 15 participant in the underlying crime, it is an affirmative defense that 16 the defendant: 17 (d) Had no reasonable ground to believe that any other participant 18 intended to engage in conduct likely to result in death or serious phys- 19 ical injury[; or]. 20 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00960-01-5
Text of S 5290 as introduced, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions