IN THE COURT OF CLAIMS OF THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA


IN THE MATTER OF:


William L. Boyd


(CV-04-37)


O R D E R




Claimant appeared in person.

Benjamin F. Yancey, III, Assistant Attorney General, for the State of West Virginia.



FORDHAM, JUDGE:

An application of the claimant, William L. Boyd, for an award under the West Virginia Crime Victims Compensation Act, was filed January 21, 2004. The report of the Claim Investigator, filed February 3, 2004, recommended that no award be granted, to which the claimant filed a response in disagreement. An Order was issued on March 25, 2004, upholding the Investigator's recommendation and denying the claim, in response to which the claimant's request for hearing was filed April 2, 2004. This matter came on for hearing June 24, 2004, claimant appearing pro se and the State of West Virginia by counsel, Benjamin F. Yancey, III, Assistant Attorney General.
On May 27, 1998, the 49-year-old claimant was the victim of criminally injurious conduct in Huntington, Cabell County. The claimant alleges that he was beaten by police.
The claimant testified at the hearing of this matter that on the evening in question, he had felt ill and went for treatment at Cabell Huntington Hospital. Upon exiting the hospital, he was ordered by police to get down. He complied, and was handcuffed, pulled to his feet, and placed in the back of a police car. The claimant asserted that he was never arrested, but was kept in the police car for six to eight hours and beaten with nightsticks.
According to the claimant, he was taken back to the hospital, then released at 7:30 a.m. The claimant states that the hospital dictated a letter that did not list a time of injury and indicated that the claimant had been carried to Parkway. It is the claimant's contention that a police report was fabricated in that it alleged that the claimant had "taken off running" and was found near Camden Park at 2:30 a.m. going through trash.
Based on these allegations of police brutality, the claimant apparently filed a civil lawsuit, but the case was dismissed. He appealed, and stated that the appeal is "somewhere." When asked why he waited until January 2004 to file his crime victim compensation application, the claimant replied that he had no idea it was available to him.
W.Va. Code §14-2A-14(a) states that a judge may not approve an award of compensation "to a claimant who did not file his or her application for an award of compensation within two years after the date of the occurrence of the criminally injurious conduct that causd the injury... ."
In the present case, the claimant was injured in 1998 and did not file his application until 2004, six years later. His reason was that he did not know about the Crime Victims Compensation Fund. Unfortunately, failure to be apprised of the existence of a statute does not preserve one's rights thereunder.
Based on the foregoing, Court is constrained to stand by its previous ruling. Therefore, this claim must be, and is hereby, denied.


ENTER: _____________________________________________



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JUDGE