(a) A person commits the offense of tampering with physical evidence if, knowing or having reason to believe an official proceeding has begun or knowing that an official proceeding is likely to be instituted, that person alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, or removes a record, document, or other object, with intent to impair its integrity or its availability for use in the official proceeding.
(b) Any person convicted of tampering with physical evidence shall be fined not more than $5,000, imprisoned for not more than 3 years, or both.
CREDIT(S)
(Dec. 1, 1982, D.C. Law 4-164, § 503, 29 DCR 3976; July 15, 2004, D.C. Law 15-174, § 301, 51 DCR 3677.)
HISTORICAL AND STATUTORY NOTES
Prior Codifications
1981 Ed., § 22-723.
Effect of Amendments
D.C. Law 15-174 rewrote subsec. (b) which had read as follows:
“(b) Any person convicted of tampering with physical evidence shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned for not more than 3 years, or both.”
Legislative History of Laws
For legislative history of D.C. Law 4-164, see Historical and Statutory Notes following § 22-701.
Law 15-174, the “Millicent Allewelt Amendment Act of 2004”, was introduced in Council and assigned Bill No. 15-34, which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. The Bill was adopted on first and second readings on January 6, 2004, and March 2, 2004, respectively. Signed by the Mayor on March 23, 2004, it was assigned Act No. 15-408 and transmitted to both Houses of Congress for its review. D.C. Law 15-174 became effective on July 15, 2004.