Homicide Victims’ Families’ Rights Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8466 To provide for a system for reviewing the case files of cold case murders at the instance of certain persons, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 30, 2020 Mr. SWALWELL of California (for himself and Mr. MCCAUL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To provide for a system for reviewing the case files of cold case murders at the instance of certain persons, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Homicide Victims’ 4 Families’ Rights Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. CASE FILE REVIEW. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—An applicable agency shall review 7 the case file regarding a cold case murder upon written 8 application by a designated person to determine if a full 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:34 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8466.IH H8466 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8466 IH reinvestigation would result in probative investigative 1 leads. 2 (b) REVIEW.—The case file review shall include— 3 (1) an analysis of what investigative steps or 4 follow-up steps may have been missed in the initial 5 investigation; 6 (2) an assessment of whether witnesses should 7 be interviewed or reinterviewed; 8 (3) an examination of physical evidence to see 9 if all appropriate forensic testing and analysis was 10 performed in the first instance or if additional test- 11 ing might produce information relevant to the inves- 12 tigation; and 13 (4) a modernization of the file to bring it up to 14 current investigative standards to the extent it would 15 help develop probative leads. 16 (c) REVIEWER.—The person or persons doing the re- 17 view required by subsection (a) shall not have previously 18 investigated the murder at issue. 19 (d) ACKNOWLEDGMENT.—The applicable agency 20 shall confirm in writing receipt of the request provided for 21 under subsection (a). 22 (e) PROHIBITION ON MULTIPLE CONCURRENT RE- 23 VIEWS.—Only one case review shall be undertaken at any 24 one time with respect to the same cold case murder victim. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:34 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8466.IH H8466 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8466 IH (f) TIME LIMIT.—No later than six months after the 1 receipt of the written application submitted pursuant to 2 subsection (a), the applicable agency shall conclude its 3 case file review and reach a conclusion about whether or 4 not a full reinvestigation under section 5 is warranted. 5 (g) EXTENSIONS.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The applicable agency may 7 extend the limit in subsection (f) for periods of time 8 not to exceed six months if said agency makes a 9 finding that the number of case files to be reviewed 10 make it impracticable to comply with said limit with- 11 out unreasonably taking resources from other law 12 enforcement activities. 13 (2) ACTIONS SUBSEQUENT TO WAIVER.—For 14 cases for which the time limit in subsection (f) is ex- 15 tended, the applicable agency shall provide notice 16 and an explanation of its reasoning to the des- 17 ignated person who filed the written application pur- 18 suant to this section. 19 SEC. 3. APPLICATION. 20 Each agency shall develop a written application to be 21 used for designated persons to request a case file review 22 under section 2. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:34 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8466.IH H8466 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8466 IH SEC. 4. NOTICE. 1 Each agency shall provide notice of the rights under 2 this Act to designated persons as soon as is reasonable 3 after being made aware of a murder. 4 SEC. 5. FULL REINVESTIGATION. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The applicable agency shall con- 6 duct a full reinvestigation of the cold case murder at issue 7 if the review of the case file required by section 2 con- 8 cludes that a full reinvestigation of such cold case murder 9 would result in probative investigative leads. 10 (b) REINVESTIGATION.—A full reinvestigation shall 11 include analyzing all evidence regarding the cold case mur- 12 der at issue for the purpose of developing probative inves- 13 tigative leads as to the perpetrator. 14 (c) REVIEWER.—The person or persons doing the full 15 reinvestigation required by subsection (a) shall not have 16 previously investigated the murder at issue, except for the 17 case file review pursuant to section 2. 18 (d) PROHIBITION ON MULTIPLE CONCURRENT RE- 19 VIEWS.—Only one full reinvestigation shall be undertaken 20 at any one time with respect to the same cold case murder 21 victim. 22 SEC. 6. CONSULTATION AND UPDATES. 23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The applicable agency shall con- 24 sult with the designated person who filed the written appli- 25 cation pursuant to section 2 and provide him or her with 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:34 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8466.IH H8466 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8466 IH periodic updates during the case file review and full re- 1 investigation. 2 (b) EXPLANATION OF CONCLUSION.—The applicable 3 agency shall explain to the designated person who filed 4 the written application pursuant to section 2 its decision 5 whether or not to engage in the full reinvestigation pro- 6 vided for under section 5 at the conclusion of the case 7 file review. 8 SEC. 7. SUBSEQUENT REVIEWS. 9 (a) CASE FILE REVIEW.—If a case file review is done 10 and a conclusion is reached not to conduct a full reinves- 11 tigation, no additional case file review shall be undertaken 12 for a period of five years. 13 (b) FULL REINVESTIGATION.—If a full reinvestiga- 14 tion is done and a suspect is not identified at its conclu- 15 sion, no additional case file review or full reinvestigation 16 shall be undertaken for a period of five years. 17 SEC. 8. DATA COLLECTION. 18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning three years after enact- 19 ment of this Act, the National Institute of Justice shall 20 publish annually statistics on the number of cold cases. 21 (b) MANNER OF PUBLICATION.—The statistics pub- 22 lished pursuant to subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, be 23 broken down by the type of crime and agency. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:34 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8466.IH H8466 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8466 IH SEC. 9. PROCEDURES TO PROMOTE COMPLIANCE. 1 (a) REGULATIONS.—Not later than one year after the 2 date of enactment of this Act, the head of each Federal 3 agency shall promulgate regulations to enforce the rights 4 of designated persons and to ensure compliance by respon- 5 sible officials with the obligations described in this Act. 6 (b) PROCEDURES.—The regulations promulgated 7 under subsection (a) shall— 8 (1) designate an administrative authority within 9 the agency to receive and investigate complaints re- 10 lating to the provision or violation of the rights of 11 designated persons; 12 (2) require a course of training for employees 13 and offices of agencies within the agency regarding 14 the rights under this Act; 15 (3) contain disciplinary sanctions, including 16 suspension or termination from employment, for em- 17 ployees of the agency who willfully or wantonly fail 18 to comply with this Act; 19 (4) establish a process for investigations into 20 the conduct of those no longer employed by the Fed- 21 eral Government when a complaint is filed and a 22 process for referrals of recommended sanctions with 23 respect to such conduct to the appropriate State bar 24 or other licensing body; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:34 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8466.IH H8466 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8466 IH (5) provide that the head of the agency, or the 1 designee thereof, shall be the final arbiter of the 2 complaint, and that there shall be no judicial review 3 of the final decision of the head of the agency by a 4 complainant. 5 SEC. 10. WITHHOLDING INFORMATION. 6 Nothing in this Act shall require an agency to provide 7 information that would endanger the safety of any person, 8 unreasonably impede an ongoing investigation, violate a 9 court order, or violate legal obligations regarding privacy. 10 SEC. 11. APPLICABILITY. 11 This Act applies in the case of any murder occurring 12 on or after January 1, 1970. 13 SEC. 12. DEFINITIONS. 14 In this Act: 15 (1) The term ‘‘designated person’’ means an 16 immediate family member or someone similarly situ- 17 ated as defined by the Department of Justice. 18 (2) The term ‘‘immediate family member’’ 19 means a parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, grand- 20 parent-in-law, sibling, spouse, child, or step-child of 21 a murder victim. 22 (3) The term ‘‘victim’’ means a natural person 23 who died as a result of a murder. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:34 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8466.IH H8466 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8466 IH (4) The term ‘‘murder’’ means any criminal of- 1 fense under section 1111(a) of title 18, United 2 States Code, or any offense the elements of which 3 are substantially identical to such section. 4 (5) The term ‘‘agency’’ means a Federal law 5 enforcement entity that is engaged in the detection, 6 investigation, or prosecution of murder under Fed- 7 eral law. 8 (6) The term ‘‘applicable agency’’ means an 9 agency that is investigating or had investigated the 10 murder of a victim. 11 (7) The term ‘‘cold case’’ means a violent crime 12 under Federal law committed more than three years 13 prior and for which all probative investigative leads 14 have been exhausted. 15 (8) The term ‘‘cold case murder’’ means a mur- 16 der committed more than three years prior and for 17 which all probative investigative leads have been ex- 18 hausted. 19 SEC. 13. ANNUAL REPORT. 20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each applicable agency shall sub- 21 mit an annual report to the Senate Committee on the Ju- 22 diciary and the House Committee on the Judiciary de- 23 scribing actions taken and results achieved under this Act 24 during such year. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:34 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8466.IH H8466 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 8466 IH (b) REPORT DESCRIBED.—The report described in 1 the preceding subsection shall include the number of writ- 2 ten applications filed pursuant to section 2, the number 3 of extensions granted and an explanation of reasons pro- 4 vided under section 2(g), the number of full reinvestiga- 5 tions initiated and closed pursuant to section 5, the num- 6 ber of suspects identified, arrested, charged, and convicted 7 for the cold case murder investigated under the Act. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:34 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8466.IH H8466 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS