AMENDMENT 247

Amendment: Section 3A1.2 is amended by deleting "If the victim" and inserting in lieu thereof:

"If--

(a) the victim",

and by deleting "crime was motivated by such status, increase by 3 levels." and inserting in lieu thereof:

"offense of conviction was motivated by such status; or

(b) during the course of the offense or immediate flight therefrom, the defendant or a person for whose conduct the defendant is otherwise accountable, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that a person was a law enforcement or corrections officer, assaulted such officer in a manner creating a substantial risk of serious bodily injury,

increase by 3 levels.".

The Commentary to §3A1.2 captioned "Application Notes" is amended by inserting the following additional notes:

"4. ‘Motivated by such status’ in subdivision (a) means that the offense of conviction was motivated by the fact that the victim was a law enforcement or corrections officer or other person covered under 18 U.S.C. § 1114, or a member of the immediate family thereof. This adjustment would not apply, for example, where both the defendant and victim were employed by the same government agency and the offense was motivated by a personal dispute.

5. Subdivision (b) applies in circumstances tantamount to aggravated assault against a law enforcement or corrections officer, committed in the course of, or in immediate flight following, another offense, such as bank robbery. While this subdivision may apply in connection with a variety of offenses that are not by nature targeted against official victims, its applicability is limited to assaultive conduct against law enforcement or corrections officers that is sufficiently serious to create at least a ‘substantial risk of serious bodily injury’ and that is proximate in time to the commission of the offense.

6. The phrase ‘substantial risk of serious bodily injury’ in subdivision (b) is a threshold level of harm that includes any more serious injury that was risked, as well as actual serious bodily injury (or more serious harm) if it occurs.".

Reason for Amendment: The purpose of the amendment is to set forth more clearly the categories of cases to which this adjustment is intended to apply.

Effective Date: The effective date of this amendment is November 1, 1989.