CHAPTER 5. Attempts to Kill [217.1. - 219.3.]

Cal. Penal Code - PEN 5.

in effect

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 217.1. Section 217.1.

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), every person who commits any assault upon the President or Vice President of the United States, the Governor of any state or territory, any justice, judge, or former judge of any local, state, or federal court of record, any commissioner, referee, or other subordinate judicial officer of any court of record, the secretary or director of any executive agency or department of the United States or any state or territory, or any other official of the United States or any state or territory holding elective office, any mayor, city council member, county supervisor, sheriff, district attorney, prosecutor or assistant prosecutor of any local, state, or federal prosecutor’s office, a former prosecutor or assistant prosecutor of any local, state, or federal prosecutor’s office, public defender or assistant public defender of any local, state, or federal public defender’s office, a former public defender or assistant public defender of any local, state, or federal public defender’s office, the chief of police of any municipal police department, any peace officer, any juror in any local, state, or federal court of record, or the immediate family of any of these officials, in retaliation for or to prevent the performance of the victim’s official duties, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170. (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), every person who attempts to commit murder against any person listed in subdivision (a) in retaliation for or to prevent the performance of the victim’s official duties, shall be confined in the state prison for a term of 15 years to life. The provisions of Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 2930) of Chapter 7 of Title 1 of Part 3 shall apply to reduce any minimum term of 15 years in a state prison imposed pursuant to this section, but that person shall not otherwise be released on parole prior to that time. (c) For the purposes of this section, the following words have the following meanings: (1) “Immediate family” means spouse, child, stepchild, brother, stepbrother, sister, stepsister, mother, stepmother, father, or stepfather. (2) “Peace officer” means any person specified in subdivision (a) of Section 830.1 or Section 830.5.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 218. Section 218.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 218.1. Section 218.1.

Any person who unlawfully and with gross negligence places or causes to be placed any obstruction upon or near the track of any railroad that proximately results in either the damaging or derailing of any passenger, freight, or other train, or injures a rail passenger or employee, shall be punished by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 for two, three, or four years, or by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), or by both that imprisonment and fine.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 219. Section 219.

Every person who unlawfully throws out a switch, removes a rail, or places any obstruction on any railroad with the intention of derailing any passenger, freight or other train, car or engine and thus derails the same, or who unlawfully places any dynamite or other explosive material or any other obstruction upon or near the track of any railroad with the intention of blowing up or derailing any such train, car or engine and thus blows up or derails the same, or who unlawfully sets fire to any railroad bridge or trestle over which any such train, car or engine must pass with the intention of wrecking such train, car or engine, and thus wrecks the same, is guilty of a felony and punishable with death or imprisonment in the state prison for life without possibility of parole in cases where any person suffers death as a proximate result thereof, or imprisonment in the state prison for life with the possibility of parole, in cases where no person suffers death as a proximate result thereof. The penalty shall be determined pursuant to Sections 190.3 and 190.4.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 219.1. Section 219.1.

Every person who unlawfully throws, hurls or projects at a vehicle operated by a common carrier, while such vehicle is either in motion or stationary, any rock, stone, brick, bottle, piece of wood or metal or any other missile of any kind or character, or does any unlawful act, with the intention of wrecking such vehicle and doing bodily harm, and thus wrecks the same and causes bodily harm, is guilty of a felony and punishable by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 for two, four, or six years.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 219.2. Section 219.2.

Every person who willfully throws, hurls, or projects a stone or other hard substance, or shoots a missile, at a train, locomotive, railway car, caboose, cable railway car, street railway car, or bus or at a steam vessel or watercraft used for carrying passengers or freight on any of the waters within or bordering on this state, is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or in a state prison, or by fine not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000), or by both such fine and imprisonment.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 219.3. Section 219.3.

Any person who wilfully drops or throws any object or missile from any toll bridge is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026