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[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2127 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2127

 To protect State and local witnesses from tampering and retaliation, 
                        and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 17, 2012

   Mr. Casey introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To protect State and local witnesses from tampering and retaliation, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``State Witness Protection Act of 
2012''.

SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF STATE AND LOCAL WITNESSES.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 73 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 1522. State and local witness tampering and retaliation
    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section--
            ``(1) the term `State official proceeding' means a 
        proceeding before a judge or court of a State or political 
        subdivision thereof; and
            ``(2) the term `physical force' has the meaning given the 
        term in section 1515.
    ``(b) Tampering and Retaliation.--It shall be unlawful, in a 
circumstance described in subsection (c), for a person to kill, attempt 
to kill, use physical force or the threat of physical force against, 
harass, intimidate or attempt to intimidate, or offer anything of value 
to, another individual, with the intent to--
            ``(1) influence, delay, or prevent the testimony or 
        attendance of any person in a State official proceeding;
            ``(2) prevent the production of a record, document, or 
        other object, in a State official proceeding;
            ``(3) cause or induce any person to--
                    ``(A) withhold testimony, or withhold a record, 
                document, or other object from a State official 
                proceeding;
                    ``(B) alter, destroy, mutilate, or conceal an 
                object with intent to impair the integrity or 
                availability of the object for use in a State official 
                proceeding;
                    ``(C) evade legal process summoning that person to 
                appear as a witness, or to produce a record, document 
                or other object in a State official proceeding; or
                    ``(D) be absent from a State official proceeding to 
                which that person has been summoned by legal process;
            ``(4) hinder, delay, or prevent the communication by any 
        person to a law enforcement officer or judge of a State, or 
        political subdivision thereof, of information relating to the 
        violation or possible violation of a law of a State or 
        political subdivision thereof, or a violation of conditions of 
        probation, parole, or release pending judicial proceedings; or
            ``(5) retaliate against any person for--
                    ``(A) the attendance of a witness or party at a 
                State official proceeding, or any testimony given or 
                any record, document, or other object produced by a 
                witness in a State official proceeding; or
                    ``(B) providing to a law enforcement officer any 
                information relating to the violation or possible 
                violation of a law of a State or political subdivision 
                thereof, or a violation of conditions of probation, 
                supervised release, parole, or release pending judicial 
                proceedings.
    ``(c) Circumstances.--A circumstance described in this subsection 
is that--
            ``(1) any communication involved in or made in furtherance 
        of the offense is communicated or transported by the mail, or 
        in interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including by 
        computer, or any means or instrumentality of interstate or 
        foreign commerce is otherwise used in committing or in 
        furtherance of the commission of the offense;
            ``(2) any person travels or is transported in interstate or 
        foreign commerce in the course of the commission of or in 
        furtherance of the commission of the offense; or
            ``(3) any weapon, including a firearm, shipped or 
        transported across State lines or in interstate or foreign 
        commerce is used in committing or in furtherance of the 
        commission of the offense.
    ``(d) Penalties.--
            ``(1) In general.--Any person that violates this section--
                    ``(A) in the case of a killing, shall be punished 
                as provided under sections 1111 and 1112;
                    ``(B) in the case of an attempt to murder, or the 
                use or attempted use of physical force against any 
                person, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned 
                for not more than 30 years, or both; and
                    ``(C) in the case of any other violation of this 
                section, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned 
                for not more than 20 years, or both.
            ``(2) Exception.--If the offense under this section occurs 
        in connection with a trial of a criminal case, the maximum term 
        of imprisonment that may be imposed for the offense shall be 
        the higher of--
                    ``(A) the penalty described in paragraph (1); or
                    ``(B) the maximum term that could have been imposed 
                for any offense charged in the criminal case.
            ``(3) Attempt and conspiracy.--Any person who attempts or 
        conspires to commit any offense under this section shall be 
        subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for the 
        offense, the commission of which was the object of the attempt 
        or conspiracy.
    ``(e) Affirmative Defense.--It is an affirmative defense to a 
prosecution under this section, which the defendant shall prove by a 
preponderance of the evidence, that the conduct committed by the 
defendant--
            ``(1) consisted solely of lawful conduct; and
            ``(2) that the sole intention of the defendant was to 
        encourage, induce, or cause the other person to testify 
        truthfully.
    ``(f) Pending Proceeding; Evidentiary Value.--For the purposes of 
this section--
            ``(1) a State official proceeding need not be pending or 
        about to be instituted at the time of the offense; and
            ``(2) the testimony, or the record, document, or other 
        object obstructed, tampered, or retaliated against by the 
        defendant need not be admissible in evidence or free of a claim 
        of privilege.
    ``(g) Intent.--In a prosecution for an offense under this section, 
the state of mind need not be proved with respect to--
            ``(1) a State official proceeding before a judge, court, 
        magistrate judge, or grand jury being before a judge or court 
        of a State or political subdivision thereof;
            ``(2) a judge being a judge of a State or political 
        subdivision thereof; or
            ``(3) a law enforcement officer being an officer or 
        employee of the State or political subdivision thereof.
    ``(h) Venue.--A prosecution brought under this section may be 
brought--
            ``(1) in the district in which the State official 
        proceeding (whether or not pending or about to be instituted) 
        was intended to be affected; or
            ``(2) in the district which the conduct constituting the 
        alleged offense occurred.''.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents for 
chapter 73 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following:

``1522. State and local witness tampering and retaliation.''.

SEC. 3. SENTENCING GUIDELINES ENHANCEMENT.

    Pursuant to its authority under section 994 of title 28, United 
States Code, and in accordance with this section, the United States 
Sentencing Commission shall amend the Federal Sentencing Guidelines to 
increase the guideline range for Obstruction of Justice, Sec. 2J1.2, as 
follows--
            (1) by 2 levels if the defendant threatened or harmed 1 or 
        more individuals on more than 1 occasion;
            (2) by 2 levels if the defendant accepted or paid a bribe 
        or payoff as part of a scheme to obstruct justice;
            (3) by 2 levels if the defendant destroyed or caused the 
        destruction of documents on a computer; and
            (4) by 6 levels if the offense resulted in substantial 
        interference with the administration of justice.
                                 <all>
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