H. B. 2268


(By Delegates Dempsey and Preece)
[Introduced February 24, 1993; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]




A BILL to amend article two, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section fifteen-a, relating to crimes and their punishment; crimes against the person; creating the misdemeanor criminal offense of assault or battery on an athletic official; definition; and criminal penalty.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article two, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section fifteen-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.

§61-2-15a. Assault, battery on athletic officials; penalties.

(a) If any person commits an assault by unlawfully attempting to commit a violent injury to the person of an athletic official or by unlawfully committing an act whichplaces an athletic official in reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving a violent injury, he or she is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail not less than five days nor more than six months, or both fined and imprisoned.
(b) If any person commits a battery by unlawfully and intentionally making physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with the person of an athletic official or by unlawfully and intentionally causing physical harm to an athletic official, he or she is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail not less than ten days nor more than twelve months, or both fined and imprisoned.
(c) For the purpose of this section "athletic official" means a person at a sports event who enforces the rules of that event, such as an umpire or referee, or a person who supervises the participants, such as a coach.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create a separate misdemeanor criminal offense of assault or battery on an athletic official.

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.