18 U.S.C. § 1504
Section 1504 · Influencing juror by writing
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 14 court decisions — leading case United States v. Forrest (1980)
Most recently applied in 489 F. App'x 688 - United States v. Seth Thomas (July 2012)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Whoever attempts to influence the action or decision of any grand or petit juror of any court of the United States upon any issue or matter pending before such juror, or before the jury of which he is a member, or pertaining to his duties, by writing or sending to him any written communication, in relation to such issue or matter, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the communication of a request to appear before the grand jury.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §243 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §137, 35 Stat. 1113).
Last paragraph was added to remove the possibility that a proper request to appear before a grand jury might be construed as a technical violation of this section.
Minor changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000” in first par.
Cross References
Bribery of public officials and witnesses, see section 201 of this title.
Minor offenses tried by United States magistrate judges as excluding offenses punishable under this section, see section 3401 of this title.