H. B. 2591
(By Delegate Modesitt)
[Introduced February 2, 1999; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-seven, article five,
chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to providing
that the use of intimidation, force or threats against
judicial officers, jurors and witnesses in any criminal or
civil proceeding is a felony.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-seven, article five, chapter sixty-one
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC JUSTICE.
§61-5-27. Obstructing administration of justice; intimidation of judicial officer, jurors and witnesses; retaliation against judicial officers, jurors and witnesses; penalty.
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to use intimidation,
physical force or threats of such or to attempt to do so, against
any person, with the intent to:
(1) Impede or obstruct the administration of justice by any
judge, family law master, magistrate, juror, arbitrator or
officer or member of any court in the discharge of that person's
duties as such in an official proceeding;
(2) Influence, delay or prevent the testimony of any person
in an official proceeding; or
(3) Cause or induce any person to: (A) Withhold testimony,
or withhold a record, document or other object, from an official
proceeding; (B) alter, destroy, mutilate or conceal an object
with intent to impair the object's integrity or availability for
use in an official proceeding; (C) evade legal process summoning
that person to appear as a witness, or to produce a record,
document or other object in an official proceeding; or (D) be
absent from an official proceeding to which such person has been
summoned by legal process.
(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in any
conduct and thereby cause bodily injury to another person or to
damage the tangible property of another person, or to threaten or
to attempt to do so, with intent to retaliate against any person:
(1) For that person's discharge of duties as a judge, family
law master, magistrate, juror, arbitrator or officer or member of
any court in an official proceeding; or
(2) For the attendance of a witness or party at an official
proceeding, or for any testimony given or for the production of
any record, document or other object produced by a witness in an
official proceeding.
(c) Any person who violates the provisions of this section
(1) In the case of an official proceeding involving any
felony charge, is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be imprisoned for a definite term of not less than
one year nor more than five years or fined not more than one
thousand dollars, or both.
(2) In the case of an official proceeding involving any
misdemeanor charge and no felony charge, or of an official
proceeding which is a civil proceeding, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in
jail for not more than one year or fined not more than five
hundred dollars, or both; or
(3) In the case of any official proceeding, where the
violation of the provisions of this section is directed at a
judge, family law master or magistrate, is guilty of a felony,
and upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned for a definite
term of not less than one year nor more than five years or fined
not more than one thousand dollars, or both.
(d) For the purposes of this section, the term "official
proceeding" means a proceeding pending before the supreme court
of appeals or before any judge, magistrate, family law master,
court or grand jury of the state of West Virginia, and the
testimony given or to be given, or the record, document or other
object produced or to be produced need not be admissible in
evidence or free of a claim of privilege at the time of the
commission of any unlawful act as provided in this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that the use of
intimidation, force or threats against judicial officers, jurors and witnesses in any criminal or civil proceeding is a felony.
Current law distinguishes between some proceedings on the basis
of being a civil proceeding or criminal misdemeanor proceeding,
in which a violation and conviction results in a misdemeanor
instead of a felony.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.