SB 1399

Under present law, a person commits the Class E felony offense of retaliation for past action who harms or threatens to harm a witness at an official proceeding, judge, district attorney general, an assistant district attorney general, an employee of the district attorney general or a law enforcement officer, clerk, employee of th e clerk, juror or former juror, or a family member of any such person, by any unlawful act in retaliation for anything the witness, judge, district attorney general, assistant district attorney general, employee of the district attorney general or a law en f orcement officer, clerk, employee of the clerk, or juror did in an official capacity as witness, judge, district attorney general, assistant district attorney general, employee of the district attorney general or a law enforcement officer, clerk, employee of the clerk, or juror. The offense of retaliation for past action shall not apply to an employee of a clerk who harms or threatens to harm the clerk. This bill revises present law to instead provide that a person commits a Class E felony offense who ha rms or threatens to harm an individual involved in the judicial process or a family member of such person with the intent to impede, intimidate, interfere with, or retaliate against the individual in connection with the individual's participation in the j u dicial process. This bill adds stepchildren to the definition of "family member"" for purposes of the offense. This bill also defines ""individual involved in the judicial process"" to mean a witness, a judge or former judge, an employee of the court, a di s trict attorney general, an assistant district attorney general, an employee of the district attorney general, a law enforcement officer, clerk, an employee of the clerk, a juror or former juror, a district public defender, an assistant district public def e nder, or an employee of the district public defender. ON APRIL 15, 2025, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1399, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 revises the definition of an ""i ndividual involved in the judicial process "" by (i) changing 'an employee of the court' to 'an employee of the judge' and (ii) adding the following persons: a former district attorney general, a former assistant district attorney general, a former law enforcement officer, a former clerk, a former district public defender, and a former assistant district public defender ."