H. B. 2858


(By Delegates Given, Kelley, Amores, Trump and Staton)
[Introduced March 28, 1997; 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 one-a, relating to creating the felony offense of murder by abuse or neglect of a child in the first degree; providing definitions; 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 one-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.
§61-2-1a. Murder by abuse or neglect in the first degree.

(a) A person is guilty of murder by abuse or neglect or both abuse and neglect in the first degree when that person recklessly causes the death of a child and has engaged in an act or previous pattern of abuse or neglect of that child.
(b) For the purpose of this section:
(1) "Child" means any person who has not yet reached that person's fourteenth birthday.
(2) "Child abuse" and "neglect" have the same meaning as defined under the provisions of section three, article one, chapter forty-nine of this code relating to child welfare.
(3) "Previous pattern" of abuse or neglect means two or more incidents of conduct: (i) Tthat constitute an act of abuse or neglect or both abuse and neglect, and (ii) are not so closely related to each other or connected in time and place that they constitute a single event.
(c) A conviction is not required for an act of abuse or neglect to be used in the prosecution of a matter under this section including an act used as proof of the previous pattern as defined in subsection (3) *3(three of this section. A conviction for any acta of abuse or neglect including one which may be relied upon to establish the previous pattern of abuse or neglect or both abuse and neglect does not preclude prosecution under this section. Prosecution under this section does not preclude prosecution under any other section of this code.
(d) Murder by abuse or neglect shall be punished by confinement in the penitentiary for life.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create the felony criminal offense of murder by abuse orf neglect ofrf a child.

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