Senate Bill No. 72
(By Senators Buckalew and Love)
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[Introduced February 20, 1997; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section ten-b, article two, chapter
sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to assaults on
police officers; including humane officers within the term
"police officer" for purposes of this section; and
providing criminal penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section ten-b, article two, chapter sixty-one of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, 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
recidivism of battery; assault on police
officers, conservation officers, county or state correctional officers, or humane officers;
penalties.
(a)
Malicious assault. -- If any person maliciously shoots,
stabs, cuts or wounds or by any means causes bodily injury with
intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill a police officer,
county correctional officer or state correctional officer acting
in his or her official capacity and the person committing the
malicious assault knows or has reason to know that the victim is
a police officer, conservation officer, county correctional
officer or state correctional officer acting in his or her
official capacity, then the offender shall be guilty of a felony
and, upon conviction, shall be punished by confinement in the
penitentiary not less than three nor more than fifteen years.
(b)
Unlawful assault. -- If any person unlawfully but not
maliciously shoots, stabs, cuts or wounds or by any means causes
a police officer, conservation officer, county correctional
officer acting in his or her official capacity or state
correctional officer bodily injury with intent to maim,
disfigure, disable or kill said officer and the person committing
the unlawful assault knows or has reason to know that the victim
is a police officer, conservation officer, county correctional
officer or state correctional officer acting in his or her
official capacity, then the offender is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be confined to the penitentiary for a
period of not less than two years nor more than five years.
(c)
Battery. -- If any person unlawfully and intentionally
makes physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with
a police officer, conservation officer, county correctional
officer or state correctional officer acting in his or her
official capacity, or unlawfully and intentionally causes
physical harm to a police officer, conservation officer, county
correctional officer or state correctional officer acting in such
capacity, said person is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be confined to the county or regional
jail for a period of not less than forty-eight hours nor more
than twelve months or fined the sum of five hundred dollars or
both. If any person commits a second such offense, then such
person is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be
confined in the county or regional jail for a period of not less
than ten days nor more than twelve months. Any person who
commits a third violation of this section is guilty of a felony
and, upon conviction, shall be confined in the penitentiary for
a period of not less than one year nor more than five years or
fined not more than one thousand dollars or both.
(d)
Assault. -- If any person unlawfully attempts to commit
a violent injury to the person of a police officer, conservation officer, county correctional officer or state correctional
officer, or unlawfully commits an act which places a police
officer, conservation officer, county correctional officer or
state correctional officer acting in his or her official capacity
in reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving a violent
injury, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction,
shall be confined in the county or regional jail for not less
than twenty-four hours nor more than six months, or fined not
more than two hundred dollars, or both such fine and
imprisonment.
(e)
Police officer defined.
--
As used in this section, a
police officer means any officer employed by the division of
public safety, any county law-enforcement agency or any police
officer employed by any city or municipality who is responsible
for the prevention or detection of crime and the enforcement of
the penal, traffic or highway laws of this state: Provided, That
for purposes of this section only, the words "police officer"
includes duly appointed humane officers.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to include humane
officers within the definition of the term "police officer" for
purposes of defining the violations of malicious assault,
unlawful assault, battery and assault on a police officer.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.