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KRS 508.040

Assault under extreme emotional disturbance

Applied in 19 court decisions — leading case United States v. Burris (2019)

Most recently applied in United States v. Burris (January 2019)

Effective: July 13, 1984 History: Amended 1984 Ky

How often courts cite this section

19771980199020002010201920
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) In any prosecution under KRS 508.010, 508.020 or 508.030 in which intentionally causing physical injury or serious physical injury is an element of the offense, the defendant may establish in mitigation that he acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance, as defined in subsection (1)(a) of KRS 507.020.

(2) An assault committed under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance is:

(a) A Class D felony when it would constitute an assault in the first degree or an assault in the second degree if not committed under the influence of an extreme emotional disturbance; or (b) A Class B misdemeanor when it would constitute an assault in the fourth degree if not committed under the influence of an extreme emotional disturbance.

Official source: Kentucky General Assembly. Reproduced from public-domain Kentucky statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.