Penal Law § 490.55

Criminal use of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the first degree · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 490.55 Criminal use of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the

first degree.

A person is guilty of criminal use of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the first degree when:

1. with intent to:

(a) cause serious physical injury to, or the death of, another person; and

(b) (i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

(ii) influence the policy of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion; or

(iii) affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination, or kidnapping; he or she uses, deploys, releases, or causes to be used, deployed, or released any select chemical agent and thereby causes serious physical injury to, or the death of, another person who is not a participant in the crime.

2. with intent to cause serious physical injury to, or the death of, more than two persons, he or she uses, deploys, releases, or causes to be used, deployed, or released any select chemical agent and thereby causes serious physical injury to, or the death of, more than two persons who are not participants in the crime; or

3. with intent to cause serious physical injury to, or the death of, another person, he or she uses, deploys, releases, or causes to be used, deployed, or released any select biological agent and thereby causes serious physical injury to, or the death of, another person who is not a participant in the crime.

Criminal use of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the first degree is a class A-I felony.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/490.55

In plain English

A person commits first-degree criminal use of a chemical or biological weapon in any of these ways (using includes deploying, releasing, or causing to be used, deployed, or released):

(1) With intent both to seriously injure or kill and to intimidate or coerce civilians, influence government policy by intimidation or coercion, or affect government conduct by murder, assassination, or kidnapping, the person uses a select chemical agent and actually seriously injures or kills a nonparticipant.
(2) With intent to seriously injure or kill more than 2 people, the person uses a select chemical agent and actually seriously injures or kills more than 2 nonparticipants.
(3) With intent to seriously injure or kill another, the person uses a select biological agent and actually seriously injures or kills a nonparticipant.

The offense is a class A-I felony. ★

Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.

In print

This provision appears in Volume 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.