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Tuesday, July 7, 2026

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VA · SB335INTRO · 1 COSPONSOR

Mental illness, neurocognitive disorder, etc.; affirmative defense or reduced penalty.

Also relevant to:Person with a disability
Where it is in the process
Plain-English Summary

Affirmative defense or reduced penalty for mental illness, neurocognitive disorder, or intellectual or developmental disability. Provides an affirmative defense to prosecution of a person for assault or assault and battery against certain specified persons for which the enhanced Class 6 felony and six-month mandatory minimum apply if such person proves, by a preponderance of the evidence, that at the time of the assault or assault and battery (i) the person's behaviors were a result of (a) menta…

Source: OpenStates · fetched April 22, 2026

Who it affects
Mental health service user

Provides an affirmative defense to prosecution for assault or assault and battery if the person's behaviors were a result of mental illness.

Person with a disability

Provides an affirmative defense to prosecution for assault or assault and battery if the person's behaviors were a result of neurocognitive disorder or intellectual or developmental disability.

AI-extracted
Who This AffectsAI analysis
  • Mental health service userdirectModerate impactHigh certainty

    Provides an affirmative defense to prosecution for assault or assault and battery if the person's behaviors were a result of mental illness.

    Provides an affirmative defense to prosecution of a person for assault or assault and battery against certain specified persons for which the enhanced Class 6 felony and six-month mandatory minimum apply if such person proves, by a preponderance of the evidence, that at the time of the assault or assault and battery (i) the person's behaviors were a result of (a) menta· Affirmative defense or reduced penalty for mental illness, neurocognitive disorder, or intellectual or developmental disability.
  • Person with a disabilitydirectModerate impactHigh certainty

    Provides an affirmative defense to prosecution for assault or assault and battery if the person's behaviors were a result of neurocognitive disorder or intellectual or developmental disability.

    Provides an affirmative defense to prosecution of a person for assault or assault and battery against certain specified persons for which the enhanced Class 6 felony and six-month mandatory minimum apply if such person proves, by a preponderance of the evidence, that at the time of the assault or assault and battery (i) the person's behaviors were a result of (a) menta· Affirmative defense or reduced penalty for mental illness, neurocognitive disorder, or intellectual or developmental disability.
What the Bill Does
  • Establishes an affirmative defense for assault or assault and battery charges.
  • The defense applies if the person's behaviors are a result of mental illness, neurocognitive disorder, or intellectual or developmental disability.
  • Requires the person to prove the condition by a preponderance of the evidence.
Votes
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