Senate Bill No. 681
(By Senators Plymale and Jenkins)
____________
[Introduced March 23, 2009; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact §61-2-10b and §61-2-14e of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to crimes
against certain protected persons; providing a mandatory term
of ten years' imprisonment for malicious assault on certain
individuals and officers; providing that the term of
imprisonment for unlawful assault on certain individuals and
officers be not less than three to not greater than fifteen
years; clarifying the penalty provisions regarding battery and
assault on certain individuals and officers; adding specified
government officials, representatives and employees to the
list of protected officials; and adding aiders and abettors of
crimes against certain individuals and officers to those who
would be guilty as the principal offender.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §61-2-10b and §61-2-14e of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.
§61-2-10b. Malicious assault; unlawful assault; battery and
recidivism of battery; assault on law-enforcement,
safety and emergency workers and certain government
officials, representatives, and employees
;
penalties.
(a) This section may be known and cited as the Officer Bentley
Bill, in honor of Officer Ryan Bentley a member of the Huntington
Police Department who was shot multiple times while on duty in
Cabell County, West Virginia, in March of 2009.
(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, state correctional
employee, employee of an urban mass transportation system, court
security personnel or Public Service Commission motor carrier
inspector and enforcement officer law-enforcement, safety and
emergency workers and certain government officials, representatives
and employees 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
ten 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, state correctional employee, employee of an urban mass
transportation system, court security personnel or Public Service
Commission motor carrier inspector and enforcement officer law-
enforcement, safety and emergency workers and certain government
officials, representatives and employees 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 three nor more than
five fifteen 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 law-enforcement, safety and emergency workers and certain
government officials, representatives and employees 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 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 fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned in a
state correctional facility for not less than one year nor more
than three years, or both fined and confined. 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
fined not more than $2,000 or
imprisoned in a state correctional facility for not less than two
years nor more than five years,
or both fined and confined.
(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 law-enforcement, safety and
emergency workers and certain government officials, representatives
and employees 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 fined not more than $200 or confined in jail for
not less than twenty-four hours nor more than six months, or both
fined and confined.
(e) (f) For purposes of this section law-enforcement, safety
and emergency workers and certain government officials,
representatives and employees shall include:
(1) "Court security personnel" means meaning 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 employees" means meaning an
officer, agent, employee or servant, whether full time or not, of the Division of Forestry.
(3) "Employee Employees of an urban mass transportation
system" means meaning 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 workers" means meaning 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 officers" means meaning 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 workers" means meaning 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 carriers
inspector and enforcement officer officers" means meaning 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.
(8) "Probation or Parole officers" meaning any person
appointed under the provisions of either section five, article
twelve, chapter sixty-two of this code or section fifteen, article
five, chapter forty-nine of this code.
(9) "Conservation officers" meaning all division personnel
detailed and assigned to law-enforcement duties and services
employed under the Division of Natural Resources.
10) "Humane officers" meaning any persons employed under the
provisions of article ten, chapter seven of this code.
(11) "Emergency medical service personnel" meaning any person
defined in section three, article four-c, chapter sixteen of this
code, employed by or volunteering for any state agency or
institution or political subdivision of the state.
(12) "Firefighters" meaning any firefighters employed by the
state or any political subdivision of the state and any volunteer
firefighter performing as a member of a volunteer fire department;
(13) State Fire Marshal and his or her employees.
(14) "State, regional, county or municipal correctional
employees."
(15) "Judges" meaning Justices of the West Virginia Supreme
Court of Appeals, circuit court judges, and family law judges.
(16) Magistrates and Juvenile Referees.
(17) Prosecuting attorneys including assistant prosecuting
attorneys and any duly appointed investigator or victim advocate employed by a prosecuting attorney.
§61-2-14e. One aiding or abetting in offense under §61-2-10b,
§61-2-14, §61-2-14a, §61-2-14c or §61-2-14d guilty
as principal; venue.
If any person in any way knowingly aid or abet any other
person in the commission of any offense described in subsections
(b) and (c), section ten-b, section fourteen, fourteen-a, fourteen-
c or fourteen-d of this article, either as accessory before or an
accessory after the fact, such person so aiding and abetting shall
be guilty as a principal in the commission of such offense and
shall be punished in the same manner and to the same extent as is
provided in said sections for the person who committed the offense.
The venue of any offense committed in violation of the provisions
of this section shall be as provided in section seven, article
eleven of this chapter.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to clarify crimes against
certain protected persons. The bill provides a mandatory term of
ten years imprisonment for malicious assault on certain individuals
and officers, that the term of imprisonment for unlawful assault on
certain individuals and officers be not less than three nor greater
than fifteen years. The bill further clarifies the penalty
provisions regarding battery and assault on certain individuals and
officers. The bill adds specified government officials,
representative, and employees to the list of protected officials.
The bill also applies criminal penalties to aiders and abettors of
crimes against certain individuals and officers.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
