Senate Bill No. 73
(By Senators Deem and Buckalew)
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[Introduced January 16, 1996; referred to the Committee
on the Judidiary.]
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A BILL to amend article three, chapter sixty-two of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
nine, relating to elimination of the insanity plea as a
defense in the trial of criminal cases.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article three, chapter sixty-two of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section nine,
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. TRIAL OF CRIMINAL CASES.
§62-3-9. Insanity plea abolished.
Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, no plea of insanity attempted to be asserted in any criminal case
may be asserted or otherwise supported by evidentiary development
to justify or support any proposition of innocence by reason
thereof.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to abolish the insanity
plea and, therefore, the insanity defense.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.