ENGROSSED

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

Senate Bill No. 458

(By Senators Buckalew and Yoder)

____________

[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;

reported February 23, 1996.]

____________

A BILL to amend and reenact section ten-b, article two, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to assaults on police officers; modifying definitions to include persons designated as humane officers within the term "police officer" when enforcing certain laws; making technical modifications regarding laws relating to assaults on police officers; and penalties.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section ten-b, article two, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.
§61-2-10b. Malicious assault; unlawful assault; battery and recidivism of battery; assault on police officers, conservation officers, county or state correctional officers or designated humane officers; penalties.

(a) Malicious assault. -- If any Any person who maliciously shoots, stabs, cuts or wounds or by any means causes bodily injury with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill a police officer, county correctional officer or state correctional officer acting in his or her official capacity and the person committing the malicious assault knows or has reason to know that the victim is a police officer, conservation officer, county correctional officer or state correctional officer acting in his or her official capacity, then the offender shall be is guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction, shall be punished by confinement in the penitentiary not less than three nor more than fifteen years.
(b) Unlawful assault. -- If any Any person who unlawfully but not maliciously shoots, stabs, cuts or wounds or by any means causes a police officer, conservation officer, county correctional officer acting in his or her official capacity or state correctional officer bodily injury with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill said officer and the person committing the unlawful assault knows or has reason to know that the victim is a police officer, conservation officer, county correctional officer or state correctional officer acting in his or her official capacity, then the offender is guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction, shall be confined to the penitentiary for a period of not less than two years nor more than five years.
(c) Battery. -- If any Any person who unlawfully and intentionally makes physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with a police officer, conservation officer, county correctional officer or state correctional officer acting in his or her official capacity, or unlawfully and intentionally causes physical harm to a police officer, conservation officer, county correctional officer or state correctional officer acting in such capacity, said person is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined to the county or regional jail for a period of not less than forty-eight hours nor more than twelve months or fined the sum of five hundred dollars or both. If any Any person who commits a second such offense, then such person violation of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in the county or regional jail for a period of not less than ten days nor more than twelve months. Any person who commits a third violation of this section is guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in the penitentiary for a period of not less than one year nor more than five years or fined not more than one thousand dollars or both.
(d) Assault. -- If any Any person who unlawfully attempts to commit a violent injury to the person of a police officer, conservation officer, county correctional officer or state correctional officer, or unlawfully commits an act which places a police officer, conservation officer, county correctional officer or state correctional officer, acting in his or her official capacity, in reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving a violent injury, he shall be is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in the county or regional jail for not less than twenty-four hours nor more than six months, or fined not more than two hundred dollars, or both such fine and imprisonment.
(e) Police officer defined. -- As used in this section, a "police officer" means any officer employed by the division of public safety state police or, any county law-enforcement agency, any police officer employed by any city or municipality, or any deputy sheriff or county dog warden designated to act as a humane officer who is responsible for the prevention or detection of crime, and the enforcement of the penal, traffic or highway laws of this state or the enforcement of the laws of this state relating to animal cruelty.