February 8, 2021 at 2:00 pm EST | by Philip Van Slooten
Md. Senate committee holds hearing on bill to ban panic defense
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The Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Feb. 5 held a hearing on a bill that would ban the use of the so-called panic defense in the state.
Senate Bill 46, sponsored by state Sen. Clarence
Lam (D-Baltimore and Howard Counties), would ban a defendant’s use of a
victim’s race, color, national origin, sex, gender identity or sexual
orientation as an excuse for violence committed against them.
“This bill will insure that the defense cannot be used to mitigate murder to manslaughter, for example, and is not a defense to assault in any way,” Lam told the committee.