ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2348
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegate Trump)
[By Request of the Executive]
(Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary)
[February 3, 1999]
A BILL to amend and reenact section fourteen-a, article two,
chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to holding a
person hostage; defining terms; establishing penalties; and
relating to the applicability of the statute under certain
circumstances involving a parent who kidnaps or holds his or
her child hostage.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section fourteen-a, 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.
§61-2-14a. Penalty for enticing away, kidnapping or holding
hostage any person.
(a) If Any person
who, by force, threat, duress, fraud or enticement take, confine, conceal, or decoy, inveigle or entice
away, or transport into or out of this state or within this
state, or otherwise kidnap any other person,
or hold hostage any
other person for the purpose or with the intent of taking,
receiving, demanding or extorting from such person, or from any
other person or persons, any ransom, money or other thing, or any
concession or advantage of any sort, or for the purpose or with
the intent of shielding or protecting himself,
herself or others
from bodily harm or of evading capture or arrest after he
or she
or they have committed a crime
he shall be guilty of a felony,
and, upon conviction, shall be punished by confinement
in the
penitentiary by the division of corrections for life, and,
he,
notwithstanding the provisions of article twelve, chapter
sixty-two of this code, shall not be eligible for parole:
Provided, That the
following exceptions shall apply: (a) A jury
may, in their discretion, recommend mercy, and if such
recommendation is added to their verdict, such person shall be
eligible for parole in accordance with the provisions of said
article twelve;
(b) Provided, however, That if the accused if
such person pleads guilty, the court may, in its discretion,
provide that such person shall be eligible for parole in
accordance with the provisions of said article twelve, and, if
the court so provides, such person shall be eligible for parole
in accordance with the provisions of said article twelve in the same manner and with like effect as if such person had been found
guilty by the verdict of a jury and the jury had recommended
mercy;
Provided further, That (c) in all cases where the person
against whom the offense is committed is returned, or is
permitted to return, alive, without bodily harm having been
inflicted upon him, but after ransom, money or other thing, or
any concession or advantage of any sort has been paid or yielded,
the punishment shall be confinement
in the penitentiary by the
division of corrections for
any a definite term of years not less
than twenty
nor more than fifty; And provided further, That (d)
in all cases where the person against whom the offense is
committed is returned, or is permitted to return, alive, without
bodily harm having been inflicted upon him
or her, but without
ransom, money or other thing, or any concession or advantage of
any sort having been paid or yielded, the punishment shall be
confinement
in the penitentiary by the division of corrections
for
any a definite term of years not less than ten
nor more than
thirty.
(b) For purposes of this section, the terms "to hold
hostage" means to seize or detain and threaten to kill, injure,
or continue to detain another person in order to compel him or
her, a third person or a governmental organization to do or
abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition
for the release of the person detained.
(c)However, if such offense is committed by the parent of a
minor abducted or held hostage, and he or she is not motivated by
the above purposes, but rather intends to conceal, take or remove
the child in violation of a court order and with the intent to
deprive another person of lawful custody or visitation rights, as
defined in section fourteen-d, article two of this chapter, he or
she shall be sentenced according to that section of the code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish a penalty for
taking hostages.
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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