COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 540
(By Senators Kessler, Jenkins, Minard, Barnes, Hunter and Edgell)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 15, 2006.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §61-11-8a, relating
to creating the offense of solicitation to commit a felony
crime of violence against the person; defining terms;
penalties; and defenses.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §61-11-8a, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 11. GENERAL PROVISIONS CONCERNING CRIMES.
§61-11-8a. Solicitation to commit certain felonies;
classification; defenses.
(a) Any person who solicits another to commit a violation of
the law which constitutes a felony crime of violence against the
person is guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof, shall
be:
(1) Confined in a state correctional facility for not less than three nor more than fifteen years if the offense solicited is
punishable by life imprisonment;
(2) Imprisoned in the state correctional facility for not less
than one nor more three years or fined not more than five thousand
dollars, or both, if the offense solicited is punishable by
incarceration in the state correctional facility for a term of less
than life imprisonment. In the circuit court's discretion a person
so convicted may be ordered confined in jail for a term not to
exceed one year in lieu of incarceration in a state correctional
facility;
(b)(1) As used in this section, "solicitation" means the
willful and knowing instigation or inducement of another to commit
a felony crime of violence against the person of a third person;
and
(2) As used in this section "felony crime of violence against
the person" means the felony offense set forth in sections one,
nine, ten-b and twelve, article two of this chapter.
(c) In a prosecution under the provisions of this section, it
is not a defense:
(1) That the defendant belongs to a class of persons who by
definition are legally incapable in an individual capacity of
committing the crime that is the object of the solicitation; or
(2) That a person whom the defendant solicits could not be
guilty of a crime that is the object of the solicitation.
(d) It is an affirmative and complete defense to a prosecution
under the provisions of this section that the defendant under
circumstances manifesting a voluntary and complete renunciation of
the defendant's criminal intent, after soliciting another person to engage in conduct constituting a felony, prevented the commission
of the crime.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create the new criminal
offense of solicitation to commit a felony.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.)
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