Page:1973 North Dakota Session Laws.pdf/238

238 1. A person is guilty of a class C felony if he uses force, threat, deception, or bribery:

a. With intent to influence another's testimony in an official proceeding; or

b. With intent to induce or otherwise cause another:

(1) To withhold any testimony, information, document, or thing from an official proceeding, whether or not the other person would be legally privileged to do so;

(2) To violate section 12-09-03;

(3) To elude legal process summoning him to testify in an official proceeding; or

(4) To absent himself from an official proceeding to which he has been summoned.

2. A person is guilty of a class C felony if he solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept from another a thing of pecuniary value as consideration for:

a. Influencing the actor's testimony in an official proceeding; or

b. The actor's engaging in the conduct described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of subsection 1b.

3. a. It is a defense to a prosecution under this section for use of threat with intent to influence another's testimony that the threat was not of unlawful harm and was used solely to influence the other to testify truthfully.

b. In a prosecution under this section based on bribery it shall be an affirmative defense that any consideration for a person's refraining from instigating or pressing the prosecution of an offense was to be limited to restitution or indemnification for harm caused by the offense.

c. It is no defense to a prosecution under this section that an official proceeding was not pending or about to be instituted.

4. This section shall not be construed to prohibit the payment or receipt of witness fees provided by statute, or the payment, by the part upon whose behalf a witness is called, and receipt by a witness, of the reasonable cost of travel and subsistence incurred and the reasonable value of time spent in attendance at an official proceeding, or in the case of expert witnesses, a reasonable fee for preparing and presenting an expert opinion.