Senate Bill No. 284
(By Senator Hunter)
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[Introduced January 26, 2006; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §61-3-4 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to deterring street couch fires by
defining fires in public rights-of-way as arson in the fourth
degree with corresponding penalty.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §61-3-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY.
§61-3-4. Attempt to commit arson; fourth degree arson; penalty.
(a) Any person who willfully and maliciously
sets fire to
personal property in the public rights-of-way, or attempts to set
fire to or burn, or attempts to cause to be burned, or attempts to
aid, counsel, procure, persuade, incite, entice or solicit any
person to burn, any of the buildings, structures, or personal
property mentioned in the foregoing sections, or who commits any
act preliminary thereto, or in furtherance thereof, shall be guilty
of arson in the fourth degree and, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to
the penitentiary a state correctional facility for a
definite term of imprisonment which is not less than one nor more
than two years, or fined not to exceed two thousand five hundred
dollars, or both. A person imprisoned pursuant to this section is
not eligible for parole prior to having served a minimum of one
year of his or her sentence.
(b) The placing or distributing of any inflammable, explosive
or combustible material or substance, or any device in any
building, structure or personal property mentioned in the foregoing
sections, in an arrangement or preparation with intent to
eventually, willfully and maliciously, set fire to or burn, or to
cause to be burned, or to aid, counsel, procure, persuade, incite,
entice or solicit the setting fire to or burning of any building,
structure or personal property mentioned in the foregoing sections
shall, for the purposes of this section, constitute an attempt to
burn that building, structure or personal property.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to deter the practice of
setting fires to couches in public rights-of-way by defining such
activity as arson, with its appropriate penalty.
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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