II 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘State Witness Protec5 tion Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF STATE AND LOCAL WITNESSES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 73 of title 18, United 

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘§ 1522. State and local witness tampering and retal2 iation 

3 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

4 ‘‘(1) the term ‘State official proceeding’ means 

5 a proceeding before a judge or court of a State or 

6 political subdivision thereof; and 

7 ‘‘(2) the term ‘physical force’ has the meaning 

8 given the term in section 1515. 

9 ‘‘(b) TAMPERING AND RETALIATION.—It shall be un10 lawful, in a circumstance described in subsection (c), for 

11 a person to kill, attempt to kill, use physical force or the 

12 threat of physical force against, harass, intimidate or at13 tempt to intimidate, or offer anything of value to, another 

14 individual, with the intent to— 

15 ‘‘(1) influence, delay, or prevent the testimony 

16 or attendance of any person in a State official pro17 ceeding; 

18 ‘‘(2) prevent the production of a record, docu19 ment, or other object, in a State official proceeding; 

20 ‘‘(3) cause or induce any person to— 

21 ‘‘(A) withhold testimony, or withhold a 

22 record, document, or other object from a State 

23 official proceeding; 

24 ‘‘(B) alter, destroy, mutilate, or conceal an 

25 object with intent to impair the integrity or 


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1 availability of the object for use in a State offi2 cial proceeding; 

3 ‘‘(C) evade legal process summoning that 

4 person to appear as a witness, or to produce a 

5 record, document or other object in a State offi6 cial proceeding; or 

7 ‘‘(D) be absent from a State official pro8 ceeding to which that person has been sum9 moned by legal process; 

10 ‘‘(4) hinder, delay, or prevent the communica11 tion by any person to a law enforcement officer or 

12 judge of a State, or political subdivision thereof, of 

13 information relating to the violation or possible vio14 lation of a law of a State or political subdivision 

15 thereof, or a violation of conditions of probation, pa16 role, or release pending judicial proceedings; or 

17 ‘‘(5) retaliate against any person for— 

18 ‘‘(A) the attendance of a witness or party 

19 at a State official proceeding, or any testimony 

20 given or any record, document, or other object 

21 produced by a witness in a State official pro22 ceeding; or 

23 ‘‘(B) providing to a law enforcement officer 

24 any information relating to the violation or pos25 sible violation of a law of a State or political 


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1 subdivision thereof, or a violation of conditions 

2 of probation, supervised release, parole, or re3 lease pending judicial proceedings. 

4 ‘‘(c) CIRCUMSTANCES.—A circumstance described in 

5 this subsection is that— 

6 ‘‘(1) any communication involved in or made in 

7 furtherance of the offense is communicated or trans8 ported by the mail, or in interstate or foreign com9 merce by any means, including by computer, or any 

10 means or instrumentality of interstate or foreign 

11 commerce is otherwise used in committing or in fur12 therance of the commission of the offense; 

13 ‘‘(2) any person travels or is transported in 

14 interstate or foreign commerce in the course of the 

15 commission of or in furtherance of the commission 

16 of the offense; or 

17 ‘‘(3) any weapon, including a firearm, shipped 

18 or transported across State lines or in interstate or 

19 foreign commerce is used in committing or in fur20 therance of the commission of the offense. 

21 ‘‘(d) PENALTIES.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any person that violates 

23 this section— 


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1 ‘‘(A) in the case of a killing, shall be pun2 ished as provided under sections 1111 and 

3 1112; 

4 ‘‘(B) in the case of an attempt to murder, 

5 or the use or attempted use of physical force 

6 against any person, shall be fined under this 

7 title, or imprisoned for not more than 30 years, 

8 or both; and 

9 ‘‘(C) in the case of any other violation of 

10 this section, shall be fined under this title, im11 prisoned for not more than 20 years, or both. 

12 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—If the offense under this 

13 section occurs in connection with a trial of a crimi14 nal case, the maximum term of imprisonment that 

15 may be imposed for the offense shall be the higher 

16 of— 

17 ‘‘(A) the penalty described in paragraph 

18 (1); or 

19 ‘‘(B) the maximum term that could have 

20 been imposed for any offense charged in the 

21 criminal case. 

22 ‘‘(3) ATTEMPT AND CONSPIRACY.—Any person 

23 who attempts or conspires to commit any offense 

24 under this section shall be subject to the same pen25 alties as those prescribed for the offense, the comVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:18 Feb 18, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2127.IS S2127

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1 mission of which was the object of the attempt or 

2 conspiracy. 

3 ‘‘(e) AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE.—It is an affirmative 

4 defense to a prosecution under this section, which the de5 fendant shall prove by a preponderance of the evidence, 

6 that the conduct committed by the defendant— 

7 ‘‘(1) consisted solely of lawful conduct; and 

8 ‘‘(2) that the sole intention of the defendant 

9 was to encourage, induce, or cause the other person 

10 to testify truthfully. 

11 ‘‘(f) PENDING PROCEEDING; EVIDENTIARY

12 VALUE.—For the purposes of this section— 

13 ‘‘(1) a State official proceeding need not be 

14 pending or about to be instituted at the time of the 

15 offense; and 

16 ‘‘(2) the testimony, or the record, document, or 

17 other object obstructed, tampered, or retaliated 

18 against by the defendant need not be admissible in 

19 evidence or free of a claim of privilege. 

20 ‘‘(g) INTENT.—In a prosecution for an offense under 

21 this section, the state of mind need not be proved with 

22 respect to— 

23 ‘‘(1) a State official proceeding before a judge, 

24 court, magistrate judge, or grand jury being before 


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1 a judge or court of a State or political subdivision 

2 thereof; 

3 ‘‘(2) a judge being a judge of a State or polit4 ical subdivision thereof; or 

5 ‘‘(3) a law enforcement officer being an officer 

6 or employee of the State or political subdivision 

7 thereof. 

8 ‘‘(h) VENUE.—A prosecution brought under this sec9 tion may be brought— 

10 ‘‘(1) in the district in which the State official 

11 proceeding (whether or not pending or about to be 

12 instituted) was intended to be affected; or 

13 ‘‘(2) in the district which the conduct consti14 tuting the alleged offense occurred.’’. 

15 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

16 The table of contents for chapter 73 of title 18, United 

17 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol18 lowing: 

‘‘1522. State and local witness tampering and retaliation.’’. 

19 SEC. 3. SENTENCING GUIDELINES ENHANCEMENT. 

20 Pursuant to its authority under section 994 of title 

21 28, United States Code, and in accordance with this sec22 tion, the United States Sentencing Commission shall 

23 amend the Federal Sentencing Guidelines to increase the 

24 guideline range for Obstruction of Justice, §2J1.2, as fol25 lows— 


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1 (1) by 2 levels if the defendant threatened or 

2 harmed 1 or more individuals on more than 1 occa3 sion; 

4 (2) by 2 levels if the defendant accepted or paid 

5 a bribe or payoff as part of a scheme to obstruct 

6 justice; 

7 (3) by 2 levels if the defendant destroyed or 

8 caused the destruction of documents on a computer; 

9 and 

10 (4) by 6 levels if the offense resulted in sub11 stantial interference with the administration of jus12 tice. 

Æ 


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