Revision: Oct. 16, 2023, 10:55 a.m.
2024 SESSION
24-2301.0
09/08
HOUSE BILL [bill number]
AN ACT relative to resisting arrest.
SPONSORS: [sponsors]
COMMITTEE: [committee]
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ANALYSIS
This bill establishes an affirmative defense to the crime of resisting arrest that the arrest was unlawful or constitutional.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
24-2301.0
09/08
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Four
AN ACT relative to resisting arrest.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Criminal Code; Obstructing Governmental Operations; Resisting Arrest or Detention. Amend RSA 642:2 to read as follows:
642:2 Resisting Arrest or Detention. A person is guilty of a misdemeanor when the person knowingly or purposely physically interferes with a person recognized to be a law enforcement official, including a probation or parole officer, seeking to effect an arrest or detention of the person or another [regardless of whether there is a legal basis for the arrest]. A person is guilty of a class B felony if the act of resisting arrest or detention causes serious bodily injury, as defined in RSA 625:11, VI, to another person. Verbal protestations alone shall not constitute resisting arrest or detention. A legal finding that an arrest was unlawful or unconstitutional shall constitute an affirmative defense to any prosecution under this section.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2025.