HOUSE BILL No. 5444 November 1, 2001, Introduced by Reps. Howell, DeRossett, Cassis, Caul, Stamas, Newell, Shackleton, Faunce, Tabor, Julian, Patterson and Rivet and referred to the Committee on Criminal Justice. 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: 1 Sec. 483a. (1) A person shall not do any of the following: 2 (a) Withhold or refuse to produce any testimony, informa- 3 tion, document, or thing after the court has ordered it to be 4 produced following a hearing. 5 (b) Prevent or attempt to prevent through the unlawful use 6 of physical force another person from reporting a crime committed 7 or attempted byanotherANY person. 8 (c) Retaliate or attempt to retaliate against another person 9 for having reported or attempted to report a crime committed or 05159'01 DRM 2 1 attempted byanotherANY person. As used in this subsection, 2 "retaliate" means to do any of the following: 3 (i) Commit or attempt to commit a crime against any person. 4 (ii) Threaten to kill or injure any person or threaten to 5 cause property damage. 6 (2) A person who violates subsection (1) is guilty of a 7 crime as follows: 8 (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), the person is 9 guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more 10 than 1 year or a fine of not more than $1,000.00, or both. 11 (b) If the violation involves committing or attempting to 12 commit a crime or a threat to kill or injure any person or to 13 cause property damage, the person is guilty of a felony punish- 14 able by imprisonment for not more than 10 years or a fine of not 15 more than $20,000.00, or both. 16 (3) A person shall not do any of the following: 17 (a) Give, offer to give, or promise anything of value to any 18 person to influence a person's statement to apolicePEACE 19 officer conducting a lawful investigation of a crime or the pre- 20 sentation of evidence to apolicePEACE officer conducting a 21 lawful investigation of a crime. 22 (b) Threaten or intimidate any person to influence a 23 person's statement to apolicePEACE officer conducting a 24 lawful investigation of a crime or the presentation of evidence 25 to apolicePEACE officer conducting a lawful investigation of 26 a crime. 05159'01 3 1 (C) KNOWINGLY PROVIDE FALSE OR MISLEADING INFORMATION TO A 2 PEACE OFFICER IN THE PERFORMANCE OF HIS OR HER DUTIES AS A PEACE 3 OFFICER. 4 (4) A person who violates subsection (3) is guilty of a 5 crime as follows: 6 (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), the person is 7 guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more 8 than 1 year or a fine of not more than $1,000.00, or both. 9 (b) If the violation involves committing or attempting to 10 commit a crime or a threat to kill or injure any person or to 11 cause property damage, the person is guilty of a felony punish- 12 able by imprisonment for not more than 10 years or a fine of not 13 more than $20,000.00, or both. 14 (5) A person shall not do any of the following: 15 (a) Knowingly and intentionally remove, alter, conceal, 16 destroy, or otherwise tamper with evidence to be offered in a 17 present or future official proceeding. 18 (b) Offer evidence at an official proceeding that he or she 19 recklessly disregards as false. 20 (6) A person who violates subsection (5) is guilty of a 21 crime as follows: 22 (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), the person is 23 guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 4 24 years or a fine of not more than $5,000.00, or both. 25 (b) If the violation is committed in a criminal case for 26 which the maximum term of imprisonment for the violation is more 27 than 10 years, or the violation is punishable by imprisonment for 05159'01 4 1 life or any term of years, the person is guilty of a felony 2 punishable by imprisonment for not more than 10 years or a fine 3 of not more than $20,000.00, or both. 4 (7) It is an affirmative defense under subsection (3), for 5 which the defendant has the burden of proof by a preponderance of 6 the evidence, that the conduct consisted solely of lawful conduct 7 and that the defendant's sole intention was to encourage, induce, 8 or cause the other person to provide a statement or evidence 9 truthfully. 10 (8) Subsections (1)(a), (3)(b), and (5)(b) do not apply to 11 any of the following: 12 (a) The lawful conduct of an attorney in the performance of 13 his or her duties, such as advising a client. 14 (b) The lawful conduct or communications of a person as per- 15 mitted by statute or other lawful privilege. 16 (9) This section does not prohibit a person from being 17 charged with, convicted of, or punished for any other violation 18 of law arising out of the same transaction as the violation of 19 this section. 20 (10) The court may order a term of imprisonment imposed for 21 a violation of this section to be served consecutively to a term 22 of imprisonment imposed for any other crime including any other 23 violation of law arising out of the same transaction as the vio- 24 lation of this section. 25 (11) As used in this section: 26 (a) "Official proceeding" means a proceeding heard before a 27 legislative, judicial, administrative, or other governmental 05159'01 5 1 agency or official authorized to hear evidence under oath, 2 including a referee, prosecuting attorney, hearing examiner, com- 3 missioner, notary, or other person taking testimony or deposition 4 in that proceeding. 5 (b) "Threaten or intimidate" does not mean a communication 6 regarding the otherwise lawful access to courts or other branches 7 of government, such as the lawful filing of any civil action or 8 police report of which the purpose is not to harass the other 9 person in violation of section 2907 of the revised judicature act 10 of 1961, 1961 PA 236, MCL 600.2907. 05159'01 Final page. 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