Senate Bill No. 207
(By Senators Kessler, Oliverio, Chafin, Foster, Green, Hunter,
Jenkins, Minard, Stollings, Wells, White, Barnes, Caruth, Deem,
Hall, McKenzie and Yoder)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported January 24, 2007.]
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A BILL to repeal §62-6-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended; and to amend and reenact §62-10-1 and §62-10-3 of
said code, all relating to penalties for violating peace
bonds.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §62-6-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be repealed; and that §62-10-1 and 62-10-3 of said code be amended
and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. PREVENTION OF CRIME.
§62-10-1. Security to keep the peace.
Every
justice of the peace magistrate shall have the power to
require from persons not of good fame security for their good
behavior and to keep the peace for a term not exceeding one year:
Provided, That any person who violates a court order to keep the
peace may be fined not more than two hundred fifty dollars.
§62-10-3. Hearing; judgment; appeal.
When
such person a defendant appears
pursuant to section one
of this article, if the
justice on magistrate, upon hearing the parties,
consider determines that there is not good cause for the
complaint, he
or she shall discharge
such person the defendant and
may
give grant judgment in
his the defendant's favor and against
the complainant for
his the defendant's costs. If
he consider the
magistrate decides there is good cause
therefor for the complaint,
he
or she may
grant judgment for the complainant and may require a
recognizance bond of the person against whom
it the judgment is
granted. and give The magistrate may then enter a judgment against
him the defendant for the
full costs of the prosecution or any part
thereof.
and, unless such recognizance be given, he shall commit
him to jail, by a warrant, stating the sum, the time for and in
which the recognizance is directed. The justice giving If the
defendant violates the conditions of the bond, he or she may be
fined not more than two hundred fifty dollars. If the defendant
fails to pay the fine imposed, the magistrate granting the judgment
under this section for costs may
, pursuant to article four, chapter
thirty-eight of this code, issue a writ of fieri facias
, a writ of
execution on the defendant's property. thereon, if an appeal be not
allowed; and proceedings shall be had thereupon, as provided by
section eight, article eighteen, chapter fifty of this code for the
collection of fines and costs in criminal cases by justices. A
person from whom such
recognizance bond is required may,
on giving
it upon imposition of the bond, appeal
the judgment to the circuit
court of the county
in which the judgment was granted. and in such
case the justice from whose judgment the appeal is taken shall
recognize such of the witnesses as he may deem proper.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill to provide for a two hundred fifty-dollar fine for violating the terms of the bond. It removes
the jail penalty.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.