Venue and Prosecution of Offenses

Venue and Prosecution of Offenses venue Sec. 903. (a) The trial of any offense under this Act shall be in the district in which such offense is committed; or if the offense is committed upon the high seas, or out of the jurisdiction of any particular State or district, the trial shall be in the district where the offender may be found or into which he shall be first brought. Whenever the offense is begun in one jurisdiction and completed in another it may be dealt with, inquired of, tried, determined, and punished in either jurisdiction in the same manner as if the offense had been actually and wholly committed therein. procedure in respect of civil penalties (b) (1) Any civil penalty imposed under this Act may be collected by proceedings in personam against the person subject to the penalty and, in case the penalty is a lien, by proceedings in rem against the aircraft, or by either method alone. Such proceedings shall conform as nearly as may be to civil suits in admiralty, except that either party may demand trial by jury of any issue of fact, if the value in controversy exceeds $20, and the facts so tried shall not be reexamined other than in accordance with the rules of the common law. The fact that in a libel in rem the seizure is made at a place not upon the high seas or navigable waters of the United States shall not be held in any way to limit the requirement of the conformity of the proceedings to civil suits in rem in admiralty. (2) Any aircraft subject to such lien may be summarily seized by and placed in the custody of such persons as the Board or Administrator may by regulation prescribe, and a report of the cause shall thereupon be transmitted to the United States attorney for the judicial district in which the seizure is made. The United States attorney shall promptly institute proceedings for the enforcement of the lien or notify the Board or Administrator of his failure to so act. (3) The aircraft shall be released from such custody upon payment of the penalty or the amount agreed upon in compromise; or seizure in pursuance of process of any court in proceedings in rem for enforcement of the lien, or notification by the United States attorney of 72 Stat. 787failure to institute such proceedings; or deposit of a bond in such amount and with such sureties as the Board or Administrator may prescribe, conditioned upon the payment of the penalty or the amount agreed upon in compromise. (4) The Supreme Court of the United States, and under its direction other courts of the United States, may prescribe rules regulating such proceedings in any particular not provided by law.