Extreme emotional disturbance defense applies to which scenario and result?

• A. It applies to second-degree murder and reduces to first-degree manslaughter.
• B. It eliminates murder entirely.
• C. It applies to robbery charges only.
• D. It increases the severity of the crime.

Answer: (A)

Extreme emotional disturbance acts as a partial defense that mitigates the severity of a killing. When a defendant is driven by intense emotion and there is a reasonable explanation or excuse for that emotion, the law reduces the level of murder charged. In New York, if this defense is proven, a case that would otherwise be second-degree murder is treated as first-degree manslaughter instead. It doesn’t erase the crime, and it doesn’t apply to offenses like robbery, nor does it increase the punishment. The key idea is that acting under extreme emotional disturbance lowers the grading of the crime from murder to a more lenient manslaughter category.