I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1751
To amend title 18, United States Code, to protect judges, prosecutors, 
witnesses, victims, and their family members, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 21, 2005
Mr. GOHMERT (for himself and Mr. WEINER) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to protect judges, 
prosecutors, witnesses, victims, and their family mem-
bers, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Secure Access to Jus-
tice and Court Protection Act of 2005’’.
SEC. 2. PENALTIES FOR INFLUENCING, IMPEDING, OR RE-
TALIATING AGAINST JUDGES AND OTHER OF-
FICIALS BY THREATENING OR INJURING A 
FAMILY MEMBER. 
Section 115 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended—
(1) in subsection (a)(1)(B), by inserting ‘‘as-
saults, kidnaps, or murders, or attempts or conspires 
to kidnap or murder, or’’ after ‘‘(B)’’; and 
(2) so that subsection (b) reads as follows: 
‘‘(b)(1) The punishment for an assault in violation 
of this section is a fine under this title and—
‘‘(A) if the assault consists of a simple assault, 
a term of imprisonment for not more than one year, 
or both; 
‘‘(B) if the assault resulted in bodily injury (as 
defined in section 1365), a term of imprisonment for 
not less than 5 nor more than 20 years; 
‘‘(C) if the assault resulted in serious bodily in-
jury (as defined in section 1365), a term of impris-
onment for any term of years not less than 10 or 
life; 
‘‘(D) if a dangerous weapon was used or pos-
sessed during and in relation to the offense, a term 
of imprisonment for any term of years not less than 
15 nor life; and
‘‘(E) in any other case, not less than 2 nor 
more than 10 years. 
‘‘(2) The punishment for a kidnaping, attempted kid-
napping, or conspiracy to kidnap in violation of this sec-
tion is a fine under this title and imprisonment for any 
term of years not less than 30, or for life. 
‘‘(3) The punishment for a murder, attempted mur-
der, or conspiracy to murder in violation of this section 
is a fine under this title and imprisonment for any term 
of years not less than 30, or for life, or the death penalty. 
‘‘(4) A threat made in violation of this section shall 
be punished by a fine under this title and imprisonment 
for a term of not less than 5 years nor more than 20 years. 
‘‘(5) Each punishment for criminal conduct under 
this section shall be in addition to any other punishment, 
whether imposed for a conviction under this section or oth-
erwise, for other criminal conduct during the same crimi-
nal episode.’’. 
SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF FEDERALLY FUNDED PUBLIC 
SAFETY OFFICERS. 
(a) OFFENSE.—Chapter 51 of title 18, United States 
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘§ 1123. Killing of federally funded public safety offi-
cers 
‘‘(a) OFFENSE.—Whoever kills, or attempts or con-
spires to kill, a federally funded public safety officer while 
that officer is engaged in official duties, or arising out of 
the performance of official duties, or kills a former feder-
ally funded public safety officer arising out of the perform-
ance of official duties, shall be punished as is provided 
in this chapter for the like offense against a person des-
ignated in section 1114. Any other killing or attempted 
killing or conspiracy to kill that occurs in the same crimi-
nal episode shall also be subject to the punishment pro-
vided in this chapter for the like offense against a person 
designated in section 1114. 
‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—As used in this section—
‘‘(1) the term ‘federally funded public safety of-
ficer’ means a public safety officer for a public agen-
cy (including a court system) that receives Federal 
financial assistance, of an entity that is a State of 
the United States, the District of Columbia, the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of 
the United States, Guam, American Samoa, the 
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the Common-
wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or any ter-
ritory or possession of the United States, an Indian 
tribe, or a unit of local government of that entity;
‘‘(2) the term ‘public safety officer’ means an 
individual serving a public agency in an official ca-
pacity, with or without compensation, as a judicial 
officer, as a firefighter, as a chaplain, or as a mem-
ber of a rescue squad or ambulance crew; 
‘‘(3) the term ‘judicial officer’ means a judge or 
other officer or employee of a court, including pros-
ecutors, court security, and corrections, probation, 
and parole officers; and 
‘‘(4) the term ‘firefighter’ includes an individual 
serving as an official recognized or designated mem-
ber of a legally organized volunteer fire department 
and an officially recognized or designated public em-
ployee member of a rescue squad or ambulance 
crew.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
at the beginning of chapter 51 of title 18, United States 
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
item:
‘‘1123. Killing of federally public safety officers.’’.
SEC. 4. GENERAL MODIFICATIONS OF FEDERAL MURDER 
CRIME AND RELATED CRIMES. 
(a) MURDER AMENDMENTS.—Section 1111 of title 
18, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘not less 
than 30’’ after ‘‘any term of years’’; and