To provide remote access to court proceedings for victims of the 1988 Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Bill: 118-hr-6714
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Van Drew, Jefferson [R-NJ-2]
Introduced: 2023-12-11
Policy area: Law
Latest action: action_date: 2023-12-11
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Summaries:

tv_txt: I 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 6714 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES December 11, 2023 Mr. Van Drew (for himself, Mr. Nadler , and Mr. Smith of New Jersey ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To provide remote access to court proceedings for victims of the 1988 Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

1. Remote access to court proceedings for victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland (a) Definition of victim of crimes associated with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 In this section: (1) In general Subject to paragraph (2), the term victim of crimes associated with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 means any individual— (A) who suffered direct or proximate harm as a result of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 that occurred over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988, and was present at or near the scene of the bombing when it occurred, or immediately thereafter; or (B) who is the spouse, legal guardian, parent, child, brother, sister, next of kin, or other relative of, or who is determined by the applicable district court of the United States to be an individual who possesses a relationship of similar significance to, an individual described in subparagraph (A) or an individual otherwise described in this subsection. (2) Limitation The term victim of crimes associated with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 does not include an individual who participated or conspired in the crimes associated with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. (b) Authorization (1) In general On and after the date of enactment of this Act, and notwithstanding any provision of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure or other law or rule to the contrary, in order to permit victims of crimes associated with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 to access court proceedings in the criminal case against Abu Agila Mohammed Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi and against any co-conspirator subsequently charged and prosecuted in a court of the United States for crimes related to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, the district court of the United States in such a case shall order that reasonable efforts be made to make remote video and telephonic access to proceedings in the case available to victims of crimes associated with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. (2) No limit on location Remote video and telephonic access to proceedings shall be made available under paragraph (1) to a victim of crimes associated with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 without regard to the location of the victim of crimes associated with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. (c) District court discretion Nothing in this section shall be construed to eliminate or limit the discretion of a district court of the United States to control the manner, circumstances, or availability of remote video or telephonic transmissions where necessary to control the courtroom or protect the integrity of court proceedings or the safety of parties, witnesses, or other participants in the proceedings.