18 U.S.C. § 753
Section 753 · Rescue to prevent execution
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 14 court decisions — leading case Mullican v. United States (1958)
Most recently applied in 52 N.J. Super. 178 - State v. Hayes (October 1958)
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, by force, sets at liberty or rescues any person found guilty in any court of the United States of any capital crime, while going to execution or during execution, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty-five years, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §248 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §142, 35 Stat. 1114).
Mandatory punishment provision was rephrased in the alternative.
Minor changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $25,000”.