H. B. 3131
(By Delegates Kominar, Varner, Williams,
Swartzmiller and Stemple)
[Introduced February 21, 2003; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section fourteen, article one-c,
chapter sixty-two of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to allowing bail
bondsmen to deliver offenders to county and regional jails
without bailpiece, setting requirements, and penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section fourteen, article one-c, chapter sixty-two of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1C. BAIL.
§62-1C-14. Bailpiece; issuance to surety; taking accused into
custody.
A bailpiece is a certificate stating that the bail became such for the accused in a particular case and the amount thereof. Upon
demand therefor, the court, justice magistrate or clerk shall issue
to the surety bail bondsman a bailpiece. Any officer having
authority to execute a warrant of arrest shall assist the surety
bail bondsman
holding such the bailpiece to take the accused into
custody and produce him the accused before the court or justice
magistrate.
The surety may take the accused into custody and
surrender him or her to the court or justice without such the
bailpiece.
If bailpiece is inaccessible due to unavailability of the
court's circuit clerk or magistrate, the bail bondsman or his or
her designee may take an offender to a regional or county jail
without bailpiece, and the jail must accept the offender; provided:
(a) The bail bondsman or his or her designee delivering an
offender to a jail without a bailpiece issued by the court's
circuit clerk or magistrate appears on the registered list
maintained at the jail and approved by the court of original
jurisdiction; and
(b) The bail bondsman signs an agreement provided by the jail
indicating that the offender has been booked in lieu of bailpiece.
The agreement must contain a clause indicating that the incarceration of the offender is lawful and that the jail accepting
the offender is held harmless from any claims of unlawful
incarceration or other related charged; thereby the bail bondsman
assumes that risk and liability of the incarceration; and
(c) Bailpiece must be obtained by the bail bondsman or his or
her designee from the court's circuit clerk or magistrate and
hand-delivered by the bail bondsman or his or her designee to the
jail housing the offender within seventy-two hours of the initial
intake.
Any bail bondsman who fails to obtain the appropriate
bailpiece within the allotted seventy-two hours provided in
subsection (c) of this section, is guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction thereof, is prohibited from continuing to conduct
business as a bail bondsman in this state and shall be imprisoned
in a state correctional facility
not less than one year, nor more
than three years.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow a bail bondsman to
deliver an offender to a jail without a bailpiece if certain
requirements are met.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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