Louisiana § RS 14:130.1 - Obstruction of justice

§ RS 14:130.1. Obstruction of justice

            A. The crime of obstruction of justice is any of the following acts when committed with the knowledge that the act has, reasonably may, or will affect an actual or potential present, past, or future criminal proceeding, civil immigration proceeding, or official act of an agent or employee of a governmental entity:

            (1) Tampering with evidence with the specific intent of distorting the results of any criminal investigation or proceeding which may reasonably prove relevant to a criminal investigation or proceeding. Tampering with evidence shall include the intentional alteration, movement, removal, or addition of any object or substance either:

            (a) At the location of any incident which the perpetrator knows or has good reason to believe will be the subject of any investigation by state, local, or United States law enforcement officers; or

            (b) At the location of storage, transfer, or place of review of any such evidence.

            (2) Using or threatening force toward the person or property of another with the specific intent to:

            (a) Influence the testimony of any person in any criminal proceeding;

            (b) Cause or induce the withholding of testimony or withholding of records, documents, or other objects from any criminal proceeding;

            (c) Cause or induce the alteration, destruction, mutilation, or concealment of any object with the specific intent to impair the object's integrity or availability for use in any criminal proceeding;

            (d) Evade legal process or the summoning of a person to appear as a witness or to produce a record, document, or other object in any criminal proceeding;

            (e) Cause the hindrance, delay, or prevention of the communication to a peace officer, as defined in R.S. 14:30, of information relating to an arrest or potential arrest or relating to the commission or possible commission of a crime or parole or probation violation.

            (3) Retaliating against any witness, victim, juror, judge, party, attorney, or informant by knowingly engaging in any conduct which results in bodily injury to or damage to the property of any such person or the communication of threats to do so with the specific intent to retaliate against any person for:

            (a) The attendance as a witness, juror, judge, attorney, or a party to any criminal proceeding or for producing evidence or testimony for use or potential use in any criminal proceeding, or

            (b) The giving of information, evidence, or any aid relating to the commission or possible commission of a parole or probation violation or any crime under the laws of any state or of the United States.

            (4) Inducing or persuading or attempting to induce or persuade any person to do any of the following:

            (a) Testify falsely or, without right or privilege to do so, to withhold any testimony.

            (b) Without the right or privilege to do so, absent himself from such proceedings despite having received service of a subpoena.

            (5) Contacting a family member of the victim in a manner that knowingly and intentionally violates the provisions of R.S. 46:1844(Y).

            (6) Knowingly committing any act intended to hinder, delay, prevent, or otherwise interfere with or thwart federal immigration enforcement efforts.

            B. Whoever commits the crime of obstruction of justice shall be subject to the following penalties:

            (1) When the obstruction of justice involves a criminal proceeding in which a sentence of death or life imprisonment may be imposed, except as provided in Paragraph (5) of this Subsection, the offender shall be fined not more than one hundred thousand dollars, imprisoned for not more than forty years at hard labor, or both.

            (2) When the obstruction of justice involves a criminal proceeding in which a sentence of imprisonment necessarily at hard labor for any period less than a life sentence may be imposed, the offender may be fined not more than fifty thousand dollars, or imprisoned for not more than twenty years at hard labor, or both.

            (3) When the obstruction of justice involves any other criminal proceeding, except as provided in Paragraph (4) or (5) of this Subsection, the offender shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars, imprisoned for not more than five years, with or without hard labor, or both.

            (4) When the obstruction of justice is committed as described in Paragraph (A)(1) of this Section and involves any misdemeanor criminal proceeding that does not involve an intentional misdemeanor directly affecting the person, the offender shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, imprisoned for not more than six months, or both.

            (5) When the obstruction of justice is committed as described in Paragraph (A)(5) of this Section and involves a criminal proceeding in which the sentence imposed is a sentence of death, the offender shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars, imprisoned for not more than three years, with or without hard labor, or both.

            (6) When the obstruction of justice involves a civil immigration proceeding, the offender shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars, imprisoned with or without hard labor for not more than one year, or both.

            (7) When the obstruction of justice involves an official act of an agent or employee of a governmental entity, the offender shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, imprisoned for not more than six months, or both.

            C. For the purposes of this Section, "family member" shall have the same meaning and definition as in R.S. 46:2132.

            Acts 1984, No. 561, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1985; Acts 2016, No. 215, §1; Acts 2021, No. 212, §1; Acts 2024, No. 157, §1; Acts 2025, No. 399, §1.