COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 99
(By Senator White)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 26, 2009.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §25-4-6 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to providing a judge has the
discretion to impose the original sentence on a youthful
offender who has completed the treatment program at a juvenile
center but commits another crime before returning to the court
for the sentencing hearing; and providing for the offender to
receive credit for time served.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §25-4-6 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. CENTERS FOR HOUSING YOUNG ADULT OFFENDERS.
§25-4-6. Assignment of offenders to center; period of center
confinement; return to court; sentence or probation;
revocation of probation.
The judge of any court with original criminal jurisdiction may
suspend the imposition of sentence of any young adult, as defined in this section, convicted of or pleading guilty to a felony
offense, other than an offense punishable by life imprisonment,
including, but not limited to, felony violations of the provisions
of chapter seventeen-c of this code, who has attained his or her
eighteenth birthday but has not reached his or her twenty-third
birthday at the time of the sentencing by the court and commit the
young adult to the custody of the West Virginia Commissioner of
Corrections to be assigned to a center. Young adult offenders who
have previously been committed to a young adult offender center are
not eligible for commitment to this program. The period of
confinement in the center shall be for a period of not less than
six months
or longer but not more than two years to successfully
complete the program requirements set by the warden.
but in any
event the period of confinement may not exceed two years The court
shall order a presentence investigation to be conducted and provide
the warden with a copy of the presentence investigation report,
along with the commitment order.
If, in the opinion of the warden, the young adult offender
proves to be is an unfit person to remain in the center, the
offender shall be returned to the committing court to be dealt with
further according to law. The offender is entitled to a hearing
before the committing court to review the warden's determination.
The standard for review is whether the warden, considering the
offender's overall record at the center and the offender's
compliance with the center's rules,
regulations, policies,
procedures, programs and services, abused his or her discretion in determining that the offender is an unfit person to remain in the
center. At the hearing before the committing court, the state need
not offer independent proof of the offender's disciplinary
infractions contained in the record of the center when opportunity
for an administrative hearing on those infractions was previously
made available at the institution.
In the event that If the court
upholds the warden's determination, the court may sentence the
offender for the crime for which the offender was convicted. In
his or her discretion, the judge may allow the defendant credit on
the sentence for time the offender spent in the center.
A young adult offender shall be returned to the jurisdiction
of the court which originally committed the offender when, in the
opinion of the warden, the young adult offender has satisfactorily
completed the center training program. The offender is then
eligible for probation for the offense
with which the offender
is
charged was convicted of or plead guilty to and the judge of the
court shall immediately place the offender on probation.
If the
court finds there is reasonable cause to believe that the offender
has engaged in new criminal conduct between his or her release from
the center and the sentencing hearing for the crime for which the
offender was ordered to the center, the judge may sentence the
offender for the crime for which the offender was first convicted,
with credit for the time spent at the center. In the event the
offender's probation is subsequently revoked, the judge shall
impose the sentence the young adult offender would have originally
received had the offender not been committed to the center and subsequently placed on probation. The court shall, however, give
the offender credit on his or her sentence for the time spent in
the center.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to give a circuit judge
discretion to impose the original sentence on a youthful offender
who has successfully completed a youthful offender training program
but who has been charged with committing another crime between his
or her release from the youthful offender center and the sentencing
hearing.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)