[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3900 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3900

   To amend title 18, United States Code, to increase the penalty on 
 persons who are convicted of killing peace officers and who flee the 
  country, and to express the sense of Congress that the Secretary of 
      State should renegotiate the extradition treaty with Mexico.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 27, 2005

 Mr. Dreier (for himself, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Herger, Mr. Wilson of South 
     Carolina, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mr. Terry, Mr. Gary G. Miller of 
 California, Mrs. Bono, Mr. McCaul of Texas, Mr. Issa, and Mr. McKeon) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
   the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on International 
 Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
 in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 18, United States Code, to increase the penalty on 
 persons who are convicted of killing peace officers and who flee the 
  country, and to express the sense of Congress that the Secretary of 
      State should renegotiate the extradition treaty with Mexico.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Justice for Peace Officers Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Thousands of fugitives have fled to Mexico to escape 
        prosecution in the United States, including individuals accused 
        of murdering peace officers.
            (2) The United States should use all reasonable tools 
        available to encourage foreign countries to change their 
        extradition policies so that the possibility of capital 
        punishment or life imprisonment will not interfere with the 
        timely extradition of fugitives of the United States.
            (3) Under Federal law, it is a crime to kill a Federal 
        peace officer or State or local officers engaged in a Federal 
        investigation.
            (4) Murdering a State or local peace officer and fleeing 
        the country to avoid prosecution should also be a Federal crime 
        with the same penalties as the murder of a Federal officer.
            (5) State and local prosecutors are the best equipped 
        prosecutors to prosecute crimes against local and State peace 
        officers.
            (6) Cases involving the murder of local and State peace 
        officers and subsequent flight to avoid prosecution in the 
        United States implicate Federal interests, and by providing 
        Federal jurisdiction in such cases the Federal Government will 
        be able to provide additional investigatory and prosecutorial 
        resources.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF FEDERAL CRIME FOR KILLING PEACE OFFICERS AND 
              TRAVELING IN FOREIGN COMMERCE.

    (a) Federal Crime Relating to Peace Officers.--Section 1121 of 
title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(c)(1) Whoever murders a peace officer engaged in, or on account 
of the performance of, the official duties of such officer, and moves 
or travels in foreign commerce with intent to avoid prosecution or 
confinement after conviction of that crime--
            ``(A) in the case of murder in the first degree, shall be 
        punished by death or by imprisonment for life (in accordance 
        with section 1111(b)); and
            ``(B) in the case of murder in the second degree, shall be 
        imprisoned for not less than 30 years (notwithstanding section 
        1111(a)) or for life.
    ``(2) Whoever, under section 3, is an accessory after the fact with 
respect to a violation of paragraph (1) shall be imprisoned for not 
less than 15 years.
    ``(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a term of 
imprisonment imposed under this subsection shall be consecutive to any 
other sentence of imprisonment imposed by a Federal or State court or 
by a court of a foreign state.
    ``(4) Violations of this section may be prosecuted only after 
formal approval in writing, upon consultation with the appropriate 
State or local prosecutor, by the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney 
General, the Associate Attorney General, or an Assistant Attorney 
General of the United States, which function of approving prosecutions 
may not be delegated.
    ``(5) As used in this subsection, the term `peace officer' means 
any officer of the United States, a State, or a political subdivision 
of a State who is empowered by law to conduct investigations of or to 
make arrests for offenses against the United States, the State, or the 
political subdivision.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendments.--
            (1) The heading for section 1121 of title 18, United States 
        Code, is amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 1121. Killing persons aiding Federal investigations, killing 
              State correctional officers, and killing peace 
              officers''.
            (2) The item relating to section 1121 in the table of 
        sections for chapter 51 of such title is amended to read as 
        follows:

``1121. Killing persons aiding Federal investigations, killing State 
                            correctional officers, and killing peace 
                            officers.''.
    (c) Rule of Construction.--None of the amendments made by this 
section shall be construed as altering, limiting, or otherwise 
affecting--
            (1) the jurisdiction of a State over the investigation or 
        prosecution of a State crime that is based on the same facts or 
        elements of a crime described in section 1121(c) of title 18, 
        United States Code, as amended by this section; and
            (2) any role a State may have in negotiations related to 
        the extradition of a criminal suspect involved in such crime.

SEC. 4. RENEGOTIATION OF THE EXTRADITION TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED 
              STATES AND THE UNITED MEXICAN STATES.

    Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary of State shall notify the Government of Mexico of the 
desire of the United States to enter into formal discussions with 
respect to the Extradition Treaty between the United States of America 
and the United Mexican States, signed in Mexico City on May 4, 1978 (31 
UST 5059), and to available actions that the Government of Mexico may 
take to persuade the Mexican Supreme Court to reconsider its October 
2001 ruling, so that the possibility of a sentence of life imprisonment 
will not have an effect on the timely extradition of a criminal suspect 
from Mexico to the United States.
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