H. B. 4282
(By Delegates Stemple, Collins, Kominar, Shelton,
Douglas, Amores and Williams)
[Introduced February 5, 1998; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
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 assault and
battery of correctional employees; penalties therefor.
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:
§61-2-10b. Malicious assault; unlawful assault; battery and
recidivism of battery; assault on police officers, conservation officers, county or state correctional
employees; penalties.
(a) Malicious assault. -- If any person 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 employee or state correctional
officer employee 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,
humane officer, emergency medical technician, firefighter, county
correctional officer employee or state correctional officer
employee acting in his or her official capacity, then the
offender shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall
be punished by confinement in the penitentiary a state
correctional facility not less than three nor more than fifteen
years.
(b) Unlawful assault. -- If any person unlawfully but not
maliciously shoots, stabs, cuts or wounds or by any means causes
a police officer, conservation officer, county correctional
officer employee acting in his or her official capacity or state
correctional officer employee bodily injury with intent to maim,
disfigure, disable or kill said officer or employee 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 employee or state correctional
officer employee acting in his or her official capacity, then the
offender is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be
confined to the penitentiary a state correctional facility for a
period of not less than two years nor more than five years.
(c) Battery. -- If any person unlawfully and intentionally
makes physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with
a police officer, conservation officer, county correctional
officer employee or state correctional officer employee acting in
his or her official capacity, or unlawfully and intentionally
causes physical harm to a police officer, conservation officer,
county correctional officer employee or state correctional
officer employee acting in such capacity, said person is guilty
of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined
to the county or regional jail not less than one month nor more
than twelve months or fined the sum of five hundred dollars or
both fined and imprisoned. If any person commits a second such
offense, then such person is guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be confined in the state correctional
facility not less than one year nor more than three years or
fined the sum of one thousand dollars or both fined and
imprisoned. Any person who commits a third violation of this
subsection is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be
confined in the state correctional facility not less than two
years nor more than five years or fined not more than two
thousand dollars or both fined and imprisoned.
(d) Assault. -- If any person unlawfully attempts to commit
a violent injury to the person of a police officer, conservation
officer, county correctional officer employee or state correctional officer employee, or unlawfully commits an act which
places a police officer, conservation officer, county
correctional officer employee or state correctional officer
employee acting in his or her official capacity in reasonable
apprehension of immediately receiving a violent injury, he shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, 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, any county law-enforcement agency, any officer
employed by the state to perform law-enforcement duties or any
police officer employed by any city or municipality who is
responsible for the prevention or detection of crime and the
enforcement of the penal, traffic or highway laws of this state.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to impose a felony
penalty for assault or battery upon any correctional employee.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.