Senate Bill No. 524
(By Senators Plymale and Jenkins)
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[Introduced January 31, 2008; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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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 requiring strict liability for a person who manufactures,
sells or dispenses 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. Strict liability for manufacturing, selling or
dispensing certain controlled substances that cause
death; penalties.
Any person who manufactures, sells or dispenses
methamphetamine, lysergic acid, diethylamide phencyclidine (PCP)or
any other controlled drug classified in schedules I or II, or any
controlled drug analog thereof, in violation of section four hundred one, or section four hundred three of this article, is
strictly liable for a death which results from the injection,
inhalation or ingestion of that substance, and may be sentenced to
imprisonment for life or for such a term as the court may order.
For the purposes of this section, the person's act of
manufacturing, dispensing or selling a substance is the cause of a
death when: (a) The injection, inhalation or ingestion of the
substance is an antecedent but for which the death would not have
occurred; and (b) the death was not: (1) Too remote in its
occurrence as have just bearing on the person's liability; or (2)
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.
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 precludes or
limits any prosecution for homicide. A conviction arising under
this section may not merge with a conviction of one as a drug
enterprise leader or for any other offense defined in this code.
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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