HOUSE BILL No. 4374
March 14, 2019, Introduced by Reps. Alexander, Griffin, Pagan, Hornberger, Glenn, Witwer, Pohutsky, Brixie, Clemente, Ellison, Hoadley, Hood, Hammoud, Guerra, Manoogian, Garza, LaGrand, Whiteford, Love, Bolden, Hertel, Rendon, Koleszar, Kuppa, Sabo, Elder, Whitsett, Sowerby, Camilleri, Kennedy, Sneller, Tyrone Carter, Shannon, Hauck, Tate, Lasinski, Warren, Gay-Dagnogo, Greig, Neeley, Byrd, Garrett, Jones, Rabhi and Wittenberg and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.
A bill to amend 1931 PA 328, entitled
"The Michigan penal code,"
by amending section 483a (MCL 750.483a), as added by 2000 PA 451.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 483a. (1) A person shall not do any of the following:
(a) Withhold or refuse to produce any testimony, information,
document, or thing after the court has ordered it to be produced
following a hearing.
(b) Prevent or attempt to prevent through the unlawful use of
physical force another person from reporting a crime committed or
attempted by another person.
(c) Intentionally use his or her professional position of
authority over another person to prevent or attempt to prevent the
person from reporting a crime listed in section 136b, 520b, 520c,
520d, 520e, or 520g, that is committed or attempted by another
person.
(d) (c) Retaliate or attempt to retaliate against another
person for having reported or attempted to report a crime committed
or attempted by another person. As used in this subsection,
subdivision, "retaliate" means to do any of the following:
(i) Commit or attempt to commit a crime against any person.
(ii) Threaten to kill or injure any person or threaten to
cause property damage.
(2) A person who violates subsection (1) is guilty of a crime
as follows:
(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), the person is
guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more
than 1 year or a fine of not more than $1,000.00, or both.
(b) If the violation involves committing or attempting to
commit a crime or a threat to kill or injure any person or to cause
property damage, the person is guilty of a felony punishable by
imprisonment for not more than 10 years or a fine of not more than
$20,000.00, or both.
(3) A person shall not do any of the following:
(a) Give, offer to give, or promise anything of value to any
person to influence a person's statement to a police officer
conducting a lawful investigation of a crime or the presentation of
evidence to a police officer conducting a lawful investigation of a
crime.
(b) Threaten or intimidate any person to influence a person's
statement to a police officer conducting a lawful investigation of
a crime or the presentation of evidence to a police officer
conducting a lawful investigation of a crime.
(4) A person who violates subsection (3) is guilty of a crime
as follows:
(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), the person is
guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more
than 1 year or a fine of not more than $1,000.00, or both.
(b) If the violation involves committing or attempting to
commit a crime or a threat to kill or injure any person or to cause
property damage, the person is guilty of a felony punishable by
imprisonment for not more than 10 years or a fine of not more than
$20,000.00, or both.
(5) A person shall not do any of the following:
(a) Knowingly and intentionally remove, alter, conceal,
destroy, or otherwise tamper with evidence to be offered in a
present or future official proceeding.
(b) Offer evidence at an official proceeding that he or she
recklessly disregards as false.
(6) A person who violates subsection (5) is guilty of a crime
as follows:
(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), the person is
guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 4
years or a fine of not more than $5,000.00, or both.
(b) If the violation is committed in a criminal case for which
the maximum term of imprisonment for the violation is more than 10
years, or the violation is punishable by imprisonment for life or
any term of years, the person is guilty of a felony punishable by
imprisonment for not more than 10 years or a fine of not more than
$20,000.00, or both.
(7) It is an affirmative defense under subsection (3), for
which the defendant has the burden of proof by a preponderance of
the evidence, that the conduct consisted solely of lawful conduct
and that the defendant's sole intention was to encourage, induce,
or cause the other person to provide a statement or evidence
truthfully.
(8) Subsections (1)(a), (3)(b), and (5)(b) do not apply to any
of the following:
(a) The lawful conduct of an attorney in the performance of
his or her duties, such as advising a client.
(b) The lawful conduct or communications of a person as
permitted by statute or other lawful privilege.
(9) This section does not prohibit a person from being charged
with, convicted of, or punished for any other violation of law
arising out of the same transaction as the violation of this
section.
(10) The court may order a term of imprisonment imposed for a
violation of this section to be served consecutively to a term of
imprisonment imposed for any other crime including any other
violation of law arising out of the same transaction as the
violation of this section.
(11) As used in this section:
(a) "Official proceeding" means a proceeding heard before a
legislative, judicial, administrative, or other governmental agency
or official authorized to hear evidence under oath, including a
referee, prosecuting attorney, hearing examiner, commissioner,
notary, or other person taking testimony or deposition in that
proceeding.
(b) "Threaten or intimidate" does not mean a communication
regarding the otherwise lawful access to courts or other branches
of government, such as the lawful filing of any civil action or
police report of which the purpose is not to harass the other
person in violation of section 2907 of the revised judicature act
of 1961, 1961 PA 236, MCL 600.2907.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days
after the date it is enacted into law.