Senate Bill No. 16
(By Senators Plymale, Prezioso, Jenkins, Yost and Laird)
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[Introduced February 11, 2009; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §60A-4-413, relating
to penalties for any person who manufactures, sells or
dispenses controlled drugs classified in Schedules I, II or
III which result in death from the injection, inhalation or
ingestion of those drugs.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §60A-4-413, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 4. OFFENSES AND PENALTIES.
§60A-4-413. Prohibited acts -- penalties for death which results
from the manufacture, selling, or dispensing of
controlled substances.
Any person who manufactures, sells or dispenses
methamphetamine, lysergic acid, diethylamide phencyclidine (PCP) or any other controlled drug classified in Schedule I, II or III, is
strictly liable for a death which results from the injection,
inhalation or ingestion of that substance, and is guilty of a
felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in a state
correctional facility for life or for such term as the court
orders. For purposes of this section, the person's act of
manufacturing, dispensing or selling a substance is the cause of a
death when:
(1) The injection, inhalation or ingestion of the substance is
an antecedent but for which the death would not have occurred; and
(2) The death was not:
(A) Too remote in its occurrence as to have just bearing on
the person's liability; or
(B) Too dependent upon conduct of another person which was
unrelated to the injection, inhalation or ingestion of the
substance or its effect, as to have a just bearing on the person's
liability. It is not a defense to a prosecution under this
section that the decedent contributed to his or her own death by
his or her purposeful, knowing, reckless or negligent injection,
inhalation or ingestion of the substance or by his or her
consenting to the administration of the substance by another.
Nothing in this section precludes or limits any prosecution
for murder. A conviction arising under this section shall not
merge with a conviction of one as a drug enterprise leader or for any other offense defined in this chapter.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish penalties for
any person who manufactures, sells or dispenses controlled drugs
classified in Schedules I, II or II where a death results from the
injection, inhalation or ingestion of the controlled substance.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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