COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 524
(By Senators Plymale and Jenkins)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 25, 2008.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §60A-4-413, relating
to creating the offenses of manufacturing, selling or
dispensing certain controlled substances which cause another
person's death; and penalties.
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 §60A-4-413, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 4. OFFENSES AND PENALTIES.
§60A-4-413. Criminal liability for manufacturing, selling or
dispensing certain controlled substances that cause
death; penalties.
(a) Notwithstanding of any provision of this code to the
contrary, any person who knowingly and intentionally violates the
provisions of section four hundred one of this article and said
violation proximately causes the death of the person to whom it was
distributed, dispensed or in whom it was injected, said person
shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, be confined for any term of years up to life.
(b) As used in subsection (a) of this section, "proximate
cause" means:
(1) The injection, inhalation or ingestion of the substance is
an antecedent, but for which the death would not have occurred; and
(2) the death was not: (A) too remote in its occurrence as have
just bearing on the person's liability; or (B) too dependent upon
conduct of another person which was unrelated to the injection,
inhalation or ingestion of the substance or its effect, as to have
a just bearing on the person's liability.
(c) It is not a defense to a prosecution under this section
that the decedent contributed to his or her own death by his
purposeful, knowing, reckless or negligent injection, inhalation or
ingestion of the substance or by his or her consenting to the
administration of the substance by another. Nothing in this
section shall be construed to preclude or limit any prosecution for
homicide.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require strict
liability for a person who manufactures, sells or dispenses meth,
LSD, PCP or any other schedule I or II controlled substances which
causes another person's death; and penalties.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.)
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