COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B.
2566
(By Delegates Mahan, Brown, Eldridge, Ennis, Fragale, Longstreth,
Ashley, Rowan and Schadler)
(Originating in the House Committee on the Judiciary.)
[March 18, 2009]
A BILL to amend and reenact §61-2-10b of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to crimes against certain protected
persons; expanding applicability of increased criminal
penalties for battery, malicious assault and unlawful assault
against a government employee or contract worker; expanding
existing protections for health care workers to include
contract workers; and changing fine structure for the penalty
for battery on a government employee, contract worker, or
health care worker.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §61-2-10b of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
Article 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.
§61-2-10b. Malicious assault; unlawful assault; battery; and
malicious assault on governmental representatives and health care providers providing services to the
public; penalties.
(a) For purposes of this section:
(1) "government representative" means any officer or employee
of the state or a political subdivision thereof, or a person under
contract with a state agency or political subdivision thereof.
(4)(2) "Health care worker" means any nurse, nurse
practitioner, physician, physician assistant or technician
practicing at, and all persons employed by or under contract to a
hospital, county or district health department, long-term care
facility, physician's office, clinic or outpatient treatment
facility.
(a) (b) Malicious assault. -- Any person who maliciously
shoots, stabs, cuts or wounds or by any means causes bodily injury
with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill a police officer,
probation officer, conservation officer, humane officer, emergency
medical service personnel, health care worker, protective services
worker, firefighter, State Fire Marshal or employee, Division of
Forestry employee, county correctional employee or state
correctional employee, employee of an urban mass transportation
system, court security personnel or Public Service Commission motor
carrier inspector and enforcement officer acting in his or her
official capacity government representative or health care worker
acting in his or her official capacity, and the person committing the malicious assault knows or has reason to know that the victim
is acting in his or her official capacity is guilty of a felony
and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a correctional
facility for not less than three nor more than fifteen years.
(b) (c) Unlawful assault. -- Any person who unlawfully but not
maliciously shoots, stabs, cuts or wounds or by any means causes a
police officer, probation officer, conservation officer, humane
officer, emergency medical service personnel, health care worker,
protective services worker, firefighter, State Fire Marshal or
employee, Division of Forestry employee, county correctional
employee or state correctional employee, employee of an urban mass
transportation system, court security personnel or Public Service
Commission motor carrier inspector and enforcement officer
government representative or health care worker acting in his or
her official capacity bodily injury with intent to maim, disfigure,
disable or kill him or her and the person committing the unlawful
assault knows or has reason to know that the victim is acting in
his or her official capacity is guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be confined in a correctional facility
for not less than two nor more than five years.
(c) (d) Battery. -- Any person who unlawfully, knowingly and
intentionally makes physical contact of an insulting or provoking
nature with a police officer, probation officer, conservation
officer, humane officer, emergency medical service personnel, health care worker, protective services worker, firefighter, State
Fire Marshal or employee, Division of Forestry employee, county
correctional employee, state correctional employee, employee of an
urban mass transportation system, court security personnel or
Public Service Commission motor carrier inspector and enforcement
officer government representative or health care worker acting in
his or her official capacity, or unlawfully and intentionally
causes physical harm to that person acting in such capacity, is
guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
confined in jail for not less than one month nor more than twelve
months, fined the sum of five hundred dollars, or both fined not
more than $500 or confined in jail not less than one month nor more
than twelve months or both fined and confined. If any person
commits a second such offense, he or she is guilty of a felony and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a correctional
facility for not less than one year nor more than three years or
fined the sum of one thousand dollars or both fined and confined
fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned in a state correctional
facility not less than one year nor more than three years, or both
fined and imprisoned. Any person who commits a third violation of
this subsection is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be confined in a correctional facility not less than two
years nor more than five years or fined not more than two thousand
dollars or both fined and confined fined not more than $2,000 or imprisoned in a state correctional facility not less than two years
nor more than five years, or both fined and imprisoned.
(d) (e) Assault. -- Any person who unlawfully attempts to
commit a violent injury to the person of a police officer,
probation officer, conservation officer, humane officer, emergency
medical service personnel, health care worker, protective services
worker, firefighter, State Fire Marshal or employee, Division of
Forestry employee, county correctional employee, state correctional
employee, employee of an urban mass transportation system, court
security personnel or Public Service Commission motor carrier
inspector and enforcement officer government representative or
health care worker acting in his or her official capacity, or
unlawfully commits an act which places that person acting in his or
her official capacity in reasonable apprehension of immediately
receiving a violent injury, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be confined in jail for not less than
twenty-four hours nor more than six months, fined not more than two
hundred dollars, or both fined and confined.
(e) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Court security personnel" means any person employed by a
circuit court, family court, magistrate court, county commission,
sheriff, the state or other political subdivision to operate and
maintain security devices, including, but not limited to, a metal detector, X-ray machine, video monitoring equipment and/or other
security devices, prevent or detect crime, enforce the laws of this
state or otherwise provide court security.
(2) "Division of Forestry employee" means an officer, agent,
employee or servant, whether full time or not, of the Division of
Forestry.
(3) "Employee of an urban mass transportation system" means
any person employed by an urban mass transportation system as such
is defined in section three, article twenty-seven, chapter eight of
this code or by a system that receives federal transit
administration funding under 49 U.S.C. §5307 or §5311.
(4) "Health care worker" means any nurse, nurse practitioner,
physician, physician assistant or technician practicing at, and all
persons employed by, a hospital, county or district health
department, long-term care facility, physician's office, clinic or
outpatient treatment facility.
(5) "Police officer" means any person employed by the State
Police, any person employed by the state to perform law-enforcement
duties, any person employed by a political subdivision of this
state who is responsible for the prevention or detection of crime
and the enforcement of the penal, traffic or highway laws of this
state or employed as a special police officer as defined in section
forty-one, article three of this chapter.
(6) "Protective services worker" means an employee of the Department of Health and Human Resources employed as, or a person
contracted with the Department of Health and Human Resources as, a
child or adult protective services worker.
(7) "Public Service Commission motor carrier inspector and
enforcement officer" means an officer, agent or employee of the
Public Service Commission charged with the enforcement of
commercial motor vehicle safety and weight restriction laws of the
State of West Virginia.