I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3359 

To provide for a system for reviewing the case files of cold case murders 

at the instance of certain persons, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 19, 2021 

Mr. SWALWELL (for himself and Mr. MCCAUL) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide for a system for reviewing the case files of cold 

case murders at the instance of certain persons, 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 ‘‘Homicide Victims’ 

5 Families’ Rights Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CASE FILE REVIEW. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—An applicable agency shall review 

8 the case file regarding a cold case murder upon written 

9 application by a designated person to determine if a full 


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1 reinvestigation would result in probative investigative 

2 leads. 

3 (b) REVIEW.—The case file review shall include— 

4 (1) an analysis of what investigative steps or 

5 follow-up steps may have been missed in the initial 

6 investigation; 

7 (2) an assessment of whether witnesses should 

8 be interviewed or reinterviewed; 

9 (3) an examination of physical evidence to see 

10 if all appropriate forensic testing and analysis was 

11 performed in the first instance or if additional test12 ing might produce information relevant to the inves13 tigation; and 

14 (4) a modernization of the file to bring it up to 

15 current investigative standards to the extent it would 

16 help develop probative leads. 

17 (c) REVIEWER.—The person or persons doing the re18 view required by subsection (a) shall not have previously 

19 investigated the murder at issue. 

20 (d) ACKNOWLEDGMENT.—The applicable agency 

21 shall confirm in writing receipt of the request provided for 

22 under subsection (a). 

23 (e) PROHIBITION ON MULTIPLE CONCURRENT RE24 VIEWS.—Only one case review shall be undertaken at any 

25 one time with respect to the same cold case murder victim. 


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1 (f) TIME LIMIT.—No later than six months after the 

2 receipt of the written application submitted pursuant to 

3 subsection (a), the applicable agency shall conclude its 

4 case file review and reach a conclusion about whether or 

5 not a full reinvestigation under section 5 is warranted. 

6 (g) EXTENSIONS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The applicable agency may 

8 extend the limit in subsection (f) for periods of time 

9 not to exceed six months if said agency makes a 

10 finding that the number of case files to be reviewed 

11 make it impracticable to comply with said limit with12 out unreasonably taking resources from other law 

13 enforcement activities. 

14 (2) ACTIONS SUBSEQUENT TO WAIVER.—For 

15 cases for which the time limit in subsection (f) is ex16 tended, the applicable agency shall provide notice 

17 and an explanation of its reasoning to the des18 ignated person who filed the written application pur19 suant to this section. 

20 SEC. 3. APPLICATION. 

21 Each agency shall develop a written application to be 

22 used for designated persons to request a case file review 

23 under section 2. 


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1 SEC. 4. NOTICE. 

2 Each agency shall provide notice of the rights under 

3 this Act to designated persons as soon as is reasonable 

4 after being made aware of a murder. 

5 SEC. 5. FULL REINVESTIGATION. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The applicable agency shall con7 duct a full reinvestigation of the cold case murder at issue 

8 if the review of the case file required by section 2 con9 cludes that a full reinvestigation of such cold case murder 

10 would result in would result in probative investigative 

11 leads. 

12 (b) REINVESTIGATION.—A full reinvestigation shall 

13 include analyzing all evidence regarding the cold case mur14 der at issue for the purpose of developing probative inves15 tigative leads as to the perpetrator. 

16 (c) REVIEWER.—The person or persons doing the full 

17 reinvestigation required by subsection (a) shall not have 

18 previously investigated the murder at issue, except for the 

19 case file review pursuant to section 2. 

20 (d) PROHIBITION ON MULTIPLE CONCURRENT RE21 VIEWS.—Only one full reinvestigation shall be undertaken 

22 at any one time with respect to the same cold case murder 

23 victim. 

24 SEC. 6. CONSULTATION AND UPDATES. 

25 (a) IN GENERAL.—The applicable agency shall con26 sult with the designated person who filed the written appliVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:14 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3359.IH H3359

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1 cation pursuant to section 2 and provide him or her with 

2 periodic updates during the case file review and full re3 investigation. 

4 (b) EXPLANATION OF CONCLUSION.—The applicable 

5 agency shall meet with the designated person and discuss 

6 the evidence to explain to the designated person who filed 

7 the written application pursuant to section 2 its decision 

8 whether or not to engage in the full reinvestigation pro9 vided for under section 5 at the conclusion of the case 

10 file review. 

11 SEC. 7. SUBSEQUENT REVIEWS. 

12 (a) CASE FILE REVIEW.—If a case file review is done 

13 and a conclusion is reached not to conduct a full reinves14 tigation, no additional case file review shall be undertaken 

15 for a period of five years, unless there is newly discovered, 

16 materially significant evidence. 

17 (b) FULL REINVESTIGATION.—If a full reinvestiga18 tion is done and a suspect is not identified at its conclu19 sion, no additional case file review or full reinvestigation 

20 shall be undertaken for a period of five years, unless there 

21 is newly discovered, materially significant new evidence. 

22 SEC. 8. DATA COLLECTION. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning three years after enact24 ment of this Act, the National Institute of Justice shall 

25 publish annually statistics on the number of cold cases. 


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1 (b) MANNER OF PUBLICATION.—The statistics pub2 lished pursuant to subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, be 

3 broken down by the type of crime and agency. 

4 SEC. 9. PROCEDURES TO PROMOTE COMPLIANCE. 

5 (a) REGULATIONS.—Not later than one year after the 

6 date of enactment of this Act, the head of each Federal 

7 agency shall promulgate regulations to enforce the rights 

8 of designated persons and to ensure compliance by respon9 sible officials with the obligations described in this Act. 

10 (b) PROCEDURES.—The regulations promulgated 

11 under subsection (a) shall— 

12 (1) designate an administrative authority within 

13 the agency to receive and investigate complaints re14 lating to the provision or violation of the rights of 

15 designated persons; 

16 (2) require a course of training for employees 

17 and offices of agencies within the agency regarding 

18 the rights under this Act; 

19 (3) contain disciplinary sanctions, including 

20 suspension or termination from employment, for em21 ployees of the agency who willfully or wantonly fail 

22 to comply with this Act; 

23 (4) establish a process for investigations into 

24 the conduct of those no longer employed by the Fed25 eral Government when a complaint is filed and a 


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1 process for referrals of recommended sanctions with 

2 respect to such conduct to the appropriate State bar 

3 or other licensing body; and 

4 (5) provide that the head of the agency, or the 

5 designee thereof, shall be the final arbiter of the 

6 complaint, and that there shall be no judicial review 

7 of the final decision of the head of the agency by a 

8 complainant. 

9 SEC. 10. WITHHOLDING INFORMATION. 

10 Nothing in this Act shall require an agency to provide 

11 information that would endanger the safety of any person, 

12 unreasonably impede an ongoing investigation, violate a 

13 court order, or violate legal obligations regarding privacy. 

14 SEC. 11. MULTIPLE AGENCIES. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—If there is more than one possible 

16 applicable agency, each applicable agency shall coordinate 

17 their case file review or full reinvestigation such that there 

18 is only one joint case file review or full reinvestigation 

19 occuring at a time in compliance with section 2(e) or 5(d) 

20 as applicable. 

21 (b) BIAS.—If an immediate family member believes 

22 there was bias demonstrated in the handling of the initial 

23 case, any case file review, or any full reinvestigation by 

24 any of the possible applicable agencies, said family mem25 ber may communicate that concern to the Attorney GenVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:06 Jul 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3359.IH H3359

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1 eral. The Attorney General shall review the allegations 

2 made by the immediate family member to determine if, 

3 in the interest of justice, another agency should conduct 

4 the case file review or full reinvestigate, as applicable. 

5 SEC. 12. APPLICABILITY. 

6 This Act applies in the case of any murder occurring 

7 on or after January 1, 1970. 

8 SEC. 13. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

10 (1) The term ‘‘designated person’’ means an 

11 immediate family member or someone similarly situ12 ated as defined by the Department of Justice. 

13 (2) The term ‘‘immediate family member’’ 

14 means a parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, grand15 parent-in-law, sibling, spouse, child, or step-child of 

16 a murder victim. 

17 (3) The term ‘‘victim’’ means a natural person 

18 who died as a result of a murder. 

19 (4) The term ‘‘murder’’ means any criminal of20 fense under section 1111(a) of title 18, United 

21 States Code, or any offense the elements of which 

22 are substantially identical to such section. 

23 (5) The term ‘‘agency’’ means a Federal law 

24 enforcement entity that is engaged in the detection, 


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1 investigation, or prosecution of murder under Fed2 eral law. 

3 (6) The term ‘‘applicable agency’’ means an 

4 agency that is investigating or had investigated the 

5 murder of a victim. 

6 (7) The term ‘‘cold case’’ means a violent crime 

7 under Federal law committed more than three years 

8 prior, for which all probative investigative leads have 

9 been exhausted, and for which no likely perpetrator 

10 has been identified. 

11 (8) The term ‘‘cold case murder’’ means a mur12 der committed more than three years prior, for 

13 which all probative investigative leads have been ex14 hausted, and for which no likely perpetrator has 

15 been identified. 

16 SEC. 14. ANNUAL REPORT. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each applicable agency shall sub18 mit an annual report to the Senate Committee on the Ju19 diciary and the House Committee on the Judiciary de20 scribing actions taken and results achieved under this Act 

21 during such year. 

22 (b) REPORT DESCRIBED.—The report described in 

23 the preceding subsection shall include the number of writ24 ten applications filed pursuant to section 2, the number 

25 of extensions granted and an explanation of reasons proVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:14 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3359.IH H3359

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1 vided under section 2(g), the number of full reinvestiga2 tions initiated and closed pursuant to section 5, the num3 ber of suspects identified, arrested, charged, and convicted 

4 for the cold case murder investigated under the Act. 

Æ 


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