Senate Bill No. 769
(By Senators Wooton, Ball, Dittmar, Kessler, Ross, Snyder and
White)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported March 4, 1998.]
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A BILL to amend article four, chapter seven 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 codifying prosecutorial authority to enter into
preprosecution or pretrial agreements with defendants; and
conditions.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article four, chapter seven 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 4. PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, REWARDS AND LEGAL ADVICE.
§7-4-1a. Diversion agreements; conditions.
(a) Whenever a prosecuting attorney of any county of this
state or a person acting as a special prosecutor deem it to be in the interests of justice, he or she may enter into a written
diversion agreement with a person under investigation or charged
with an offense against the state of West Virginia.
(b) Any agreement entered into pursuant to the provisions of
subsection (a) of this section shall be for a specific period of
time, as set forth in the agreement between the prosecuting
attorney and the person being investigated or charged. The terms
of any agreement entered into pursuant to the provisions of this
section shall be consistent with sound public policy and may be
similar in nature to those for probationers as set forth in section
nine, article twelve, chapter sixty-one of this code, including
supervision by a probation officer of the court for the
jurisdiction in which the prosecuting attorney serves.
(c) Where a person has entered into an agreement for diversion
with a prosecuting attorney and has successfully complied with the
terms of the agreement, he or she shall not be subject to
prosecution for the offense or offenses set forth in the agreement
as the conduct underlying the agreement.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to codify the practice of
preprosecution or pretrial diversion and to authorize the use of
probationers for supervising divertees.
§7-4-1a is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.)