ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2348
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegate Trump)
[By Request of the Executive]
AN ACT 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 family member who kidnaps or holds
his or her child hostage for nonmonetary reasons believing
he or she is acting in the child's interest; and penalties.
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) 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 shall be guilty of a felony and,
upon conviction, shall be punished by confinement by the division
of corrections for life, and, 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: (1) 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; (2) 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; (3) 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 by the division
of corrections for a definite term of years not less than twenty
nor more than fifty; (4) 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 by the division of
corrections for 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 or injure
another in order to compel, a third person or a governmental
organization to do or abstain from doing any legal act as an
explicit or implicit condition for the release of the person
detained.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, if
a violation of this section is committed by a family member of a
minor abducted or held hostage and he or she is not motivated by
monetary purposes, but rather intends to conceal, take, remove
the child or refuse to return the child to his or her lawful
guardian in the belief, mistaken or not, that it is in the
child's interest to do so, he or she shall be guilty of a felony
and, upon conviction thereof, be confined in a correctional
facility for not less than one or more than five years or fined
not more than one thousand dollars, or both.
(d) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the
contrary, where a law-enforcement agency of this state or a
political subdivision thereof receives a complaint that a
violation of the provisions of this section has occurred, the receiving law-enforcement agency shall notify any other law- enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the offense, including,
but not limited to, the state police and each agency so notified,
shall cooperate in the investigation forthwith.
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
