ArticleThe California Senate passed on Tuesday, Aug. 29, a bill to address the use of so-called "panic defense" strategies, whereby criminal defendants attempt to reduce their culpability for violent crimes by claiming that they "panicked" upon discovering a victim's sexual orientation or gender identity. The bill will return to the Assembly this week for a routine concurrence vote before heading to the governor's desk for consideration.
AB 1160, authored by Assemblymember Sally Lieber (D-San Jose) and sponsored by Equality California (EQCA), directs the Office of Emergency Services to create training materials for district attorneys on best practices to address the use of bias-motivated defense strategies in criminal trials. The bill also requires the Judicial Council to adopt a jury instruction that tells jurors not to consider bias against people because of sexual orientation, gender identity or other characteristics in rendering a verdict. The bill is named in honor of Gwen Araujo, a transgender teen, who was murdered in Newark, California in 2002.
