I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1627 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to make the murder of a Federal, 
State, or local law enforcement officer a crime punishable by life in 
prison or death. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 17, 2023 
Mr. MIKE GARCIA of California (for himself, Mr. BACON, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. 
BISHOP of North Carolina, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, and Mr. HIGGINS of Lou-
isiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to make the murder 
of a Federal, State, or local law enforcement officer 
a crime punishable by life in prison or death. 
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 ‘‘Sergeant Steve Owen 
Defending Our Defenders Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. MURDER OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 51 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘§ 1123. Murder of law enforcement officers 
‘‘(a) FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.—In 
the case of an individual who commits an offense described 
in section 1111 and the victim of the offense is a Federal 
law enforcement officer (as defined in section 2 of the Law 
Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery Act of 2008 
(34 U.S.C. 50301)) acting in the course of the official du-
ties of the officer, the individual shall be punished by 
death or by imprisonment for life. 
‘‘(b) STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFI-
CERS.—In the case of an individual who travels in inter-
state or foreign commerce or uses any facility of interstate 
or foreign commerce, including the mail, telephone, radio, 
or television, with the intent to commit an offense de-
scribed in section 1111 or who uses a weapon or instru-
ment that has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce 
to commit said offense, and the victim of the offense is 
a State or local law enforcement officer (as defined in sec-
tion 2 of the Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of 
Bravery Act of 2008 (34 U.S.C. 50301)) acting in the 
course of the official duties of the officer, the individual 
shall be punished by death or by imprisonment for life. 
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‘‘(c) 
AGGRAVATING
FACTORS.—In 
determining 
whether a sentence of death is to be imposed on a defend-
ant convicted of an offense described in subsection (a) or 
(b), the jury, or if there is no jury, the court, shall con-
sider, in addition to the factors described in section 
3592(c), each of the following aggravating factors for 
which notice has been given and determine which, if any, 
exist: 
‘‘(1) INTENT TO AMBUSH.—The defendant com-
mitted the offense by an act of ambush. 
‘‘(2) PRIOR STATEMENTS ADVOCATING FOR OR 
PROMOTING VIOLENCE AGAINST LAW ENFORCEMENT 
OFFICERS.—The defendant has a prior history of 
advocating for or promoting acts of violence, includ-
ing murder or assault, against a law enforcement of-
ficer. 
‘‘(3) PARTICIPATION IN OR AFFILIATION WITH 
ANARCHIST OR OTHER VIOLENCE PROMOTING ORGA-
NIZATION.—The defendant is a member of or affili-
ated with any organization that the Attorney Gen-
eral or other high ranking law enforcement official 
has determined to be an anarchist organization, a 
domestic terrorist organization, or any other organi-
zation or group that actively promotes violence or 
the overthrow of the Federal Government. 
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‘‘(4) OCCURRENCE DURING ORGANIZED ANTI- 
LAW
ENFORCEMENT
OFFICER
ACTIVITY.—The of-
fense was committed during a time and in a place 
when there was active organized activity against or 
targeting law enforcement officers. 
‘‘(5) ATTEMPT TO PREVENT LAWFUL EXECU-
TION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT DUTIES.—The defend-
ant committed the offense in attempt to evade or 
otherwise prevent the law enforcement officer from 
carrying out a lawful arrest or other lawful author-
ized law enforcement activity. 
‘‘(6) PRIOR THREATS.—The defendant has per-
sonally made prior threats of violence against a law 
enforcement officer. 
‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-
tion shall be construed as— 
‘‘(1) indicating an intent on the part of Con-
gress to prevent any State, any possession or Com-
monwealth of the United States, or the District of 
Columbia, from exercising jurisdiction over any of-
fense over which the State, possession, Common-
wealth, or District of Columbia would have jurisdic-
tion in the absence of this section; or 
‘‘(2) depriving State and local law enforcement 
agencies of responsibility for prosecuting acts that 
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may be violations of this section and that are viola-
tions of State or local law.’’. 
(b) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections for 
chapter 51 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 
by inserting after the item relating to section 1122 the 
following: 
‘‘1123. Murder of law enforcement officers.’’. 
Æ 
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