18 U.S.C. § 3144
Section 3144 · Release or detention of a material witness
This is the Bail Reform Act of 1984
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 96 court decisions — leading case Sibron v. State of New York Peters (1968)
Most recently applied in Hornof v. United States (July 2024)
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.
If it appears from an affidavit filed by a party that the testimony of a person is material in a criminal proceeding, and if it is shown that it may become impracticable to secure the presence of the person by subpoena, a judicial officer may order the arrest of the person and treat the person in accordance with the provisions of section 3142 of this title. No material witness may be detained because of inability to comply with any condition of release if the testimony of such witness can adequately be secured by deposition, and if further detention is not necessary to prevent a failure of justice. Release of a material witness may be delayed for a reasonable period of time until the deposition of the witness can be taken pursuant to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, referred to in text, are set out in the Appendix to this title.
Prior Provisions
A prior section 3144, act June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 821, related to cases removed from State courts, prior to repeal in the revision of this chapter by section 203(a) of Pub. L. 98–473.
Amendments
1986—Pub. L. 99–646 substituted “subpoena” for “subpena” and inserted “of this title”.
Effective Date of 1986 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 99–646 effective 30 days after Nov. 10, 1986, see section 55(j) of Pub. L. 99–646, set out as a note under section 3141 of this title.