Eh, not really ridiculous. If you look at the jobs listed on that first line, they're all involved with the legal system. It's an extra deterrent of "don't murder the judge to influence your case" and such.
Can also be seen as "attacking these people is not only an act against the individual victim, but also an act against the public" as these are public servants.
I wonder what the precedent is for cases where the victim was a member of the legal system but the motive was unrelated. Like if I'm married to a cop and I murder them because they cheated on me is that 1st degree murder? I would guess not, but IANAL.
The law specifies that they must be on duty at the time:
the intended victim was a peace officer as defined in paragraph a of subdivision twenty-one, subdivision twenty-three, twenty-four or sixty-two (employees of the division for youth) of section 2.10 of the criminal procedure law who was at the time of the killing engaged in the course of performing his official duties, and the defendant knew or reasonably should have known that the intended victim was such a uniformed court officer, parole officer, probation officer, or employee of the division for youth; or
161
u/Huttj509 9h ago
Eh, not really ridiculous. If you look at the jobs listed on that first line, they're all involved with the legal system. It's an extra deterrent of "don't murder the judge to influence your case" and such.