Senate Bill No. 371

(By Senator Redd, Mitchell, Unger, Kessler, Dawson, McCabe, Hunter, Ball and Sharpe)

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[Introduced February 2, 2000; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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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; to amend and reenact sections ten and seventeen, article five of said chapter; and to amend and reenact section six, article seven of said chapter, all relating to the treatment of parole officers; making certain criminal provisions concerning malicious assault, unlawful assault, battery, assault, obstructing, escaping and fleeing from specified law-enforcement personnel and their criminal penalties apply to those actions involving parole officers; and allowing parole officers to carry concealed deadly weapons without obtaining a license.

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; that sections ten and seventeen, article five of said chapter be amended and reenacted; and that section six, article seven of said chapter be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.

§61-2-10b. Malicious assault; unlawful assault; battery and recidivism of battery; assault on police officers, conservation officers, probation officers, humane officers, emergency medical service personnel, firefighters, fire marshal and county or state correctional employees; penalties.

(a) Malicious assault. -- Any person who maliciously shoots, stabs, cuts or wounds or by any means causes bodily injury with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill a police officer, probation officer, conservation officer, humane officer, emergency medical service personnel, firefighter, state fire marshal or employee, county correctional employee or state correctional employee, employee of an urban mass transportation system 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, probation officer, conservation officer, humane officer, emergency medical service personnel, firefighter, state fire marshal or employee, county correctional employee, state correctional employee, employee of an urban mass transportation system acting in his or her official capacity, is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be confined in a correctional facility for not less than three nor more than fifteen years.
(b) Unlawful assault. -- Any person who unlawfully but not maliciously shoots, stabs, cuts or wounds or by any means causes a police officer, probation officer, conservation officer, humane officer, emergency medical service personnel, firefighter, state fire marshal or employee, county correctional employee or state correctional employee, employee of an urban mass transportation system acting in his or her official capacity, bodily injury with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill said person him or her and the person committing the unlawful assault knows or has reason to know that the victim is a police officer, probation officer, conservation officer, humane officer, emergency medical service personnel, firefighter, state fire marshal or employee, county correctional employee, state correctional employee, employee of an urban mass transportation system acting in his or her official capacity, is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be confined in a correctional facility for not less than two nor more than five years.
(c) Battery. -- Any person who unlawfully, knowingly and intentionally makes physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with a police officer, probation officer, conservation officer, humane officer, emergency medical service personnel, firefighter, state fire marshal or employee, county correctional employee, state correctional employee, employee of a mass transportation system acting in his or her official capacity, or unlawfully and intentionally causes physical harm to a police officer, probation officer, conservation officer, humane officer, emergency medical service personnel, firefighter, state fire marshal or employee, county correctional employee, state correctional employee, employee of an urban mass transportation system acting in such capacity, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in the county or regional jail for not less than one month nor more than twelve months, fined the sum of five hundred dollars, or both. If any person commits a second such offense, he or she is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a correctional facility for not less than one year nor more than three years or fined the sum of one thousand dollars or both fined and confined. Any person who commits a third violation of this subsection is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be confined in a correctional facility not less than two years nor more than five years or fined not more than two thousand dollars or both fined and confined.
(d) Assault. -- Any person who unlawfully attempts to commit a violent injury to the person of a police officer, probation officer, conservation officer, humane officer, emergency medical service personnel, firefighter, state fire marshal or employee, county correctional employee, state correctional employee, employee of a mass transportation system acting in his or her official capacity, or unlawfully commits an act which places a police officer, probation officer, conservation officer, humane officer, emergency medical service personnel, firefighter, county correctional employee or state correctional employee, employee of a mass transportation system acting in his or her official capacity in reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving a violent injury, is 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, fined not more than two hundred dollars, or both fined and imprisoned.
(e) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Police officer" means any person employed by the state police, any person employed by the state to perform law-enforcement duties, any person employed by a political subdivision of this state who is responsible for the prevention or detection of crime and the enforcement of the penal, traffic or highway laws of this state or employed as a special police officer as such is defined in section forty-one, article three, chapter sixty-one of this code.
(2) "Employee of an urban mass transportation system" means any person employed by an urban mass transportation system as such is defined in section three, article twenty-seven, chapter eight of this code or by a system that receives federal transit administration funding under 49 U.S.C. §§5307 or 5311.
ARTICLE 5. CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC JUSTICE.

§61-5-10. Persons in custody of institutions or officers.
Whoever escapes or attempts to escape by any means from the custody of a county sheriff, the director of the regional jail authority, an authorized representative of said persons, a law-enforcement officer, probation officer, court bailiff, or from any institution, facility, or any alternative sentence confinement, by which he or she is lawfully confined, shall if the custody or confinement is by virtue of a charge or conviction for a felony, be is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in the penitentiary a correctional facility for not more than five years; and if the custody or confinement is by virtue of a charge or conviction for a misdemeanor, shall be is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, he or she shall be confined in the a county or regional jail for not more than one year.
§61-5-17. Obstructing officer; fleeing from officer; fleeing from officer in a vehicle; penalties; definitions.
(a) Any person who by threats, menaces, acts or otherwise, forcibly or illegally hinders or obstructs, or attempts to hinder or obstruct, any law-enforcement officer or probation officer acting in his or her official capacity is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars, and may, in the discretion of the court, be confined in the county or regional jail not more than one year.
(b) Any person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee by any means other than the use of a vehicle from any law-enforcement officer or probation officer acting in his or her official capacity who is attempting to make a lawful arrest of the person, and who knows or reasonably believes that the officer is attempting to arrest him or her, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars, and may, in the discretion of the court, be confined in the county or regional jail not more than one year.
(c) Any person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee in a vehicle from any law-enforcement officer or probation officer acting in his or her official capacity, after the officer has given a clear visual or audible signal directing the person to stop, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, and shall be confined in the county or regional jail not more than one year.
(d) Any person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee in a vehicle from any law-enforcement officer or probation officer acting in his or her official capacity, after the officer has given a clear visual or audible signal directing the person to stop, and who causes damage to the real or personal property of any person during or resulting from his or her flight, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than one thousand nor more than three thousand dollars, and shall be confined in the county or regional jail for not less than six months nor more than one year.
(e) Any person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee in a vehicle from any law-enforcement officer or probation officer acting in his or her official capacity, after the officer has given a clear visual or audible signal directing the person to stop, and who causes bodily injury to any person during or resulting from his or her flight, is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in the a state correctional facility not less than one nor more than five years.
(f) Any person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee in a vehicle from any law-enforcement officer or probation officer acting in his or her official capacity, after the officer has given a clear visual or audible signal directing the person to stop, and who causes death to any person during or resulting from his or her flight, is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a definite term of imprisonment in the a state correctional facility which is not less than three nor more than fifteen years. A person imprisoned pursuant to the provisions of this subsection is not eligible for parole prior to having served a minimum of three years of his or her sentence or the minimum period required by the provisions of section thirteen, article twelve, chapter sixty-two, whichever is greater.
(g) Any person who intentionally flees or attempts to flee in a vehicle from any law-enforcement officer or probation officer acting in his or her official capacity, after the officer has given a clear visual or audible signal directing the person to stop, and who is under the influence of alcohol, controlled substances or drugs at the time, is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in the a state correctional facility not less than one nor more than five years.
(h) For purposes of this section, the term "vehicle" includes any motor vehicle, motorcycle, motorboat, all-terrain vehicle or snowmobile, as those terms are defined in section one, article one, chapter seventeen-a of this code, whether or not it is being operated on a public highway at the time and whether or not it is licensed by the state.
(i) For purposes of this section, the terms "flee," "fleeing" and "flight" shall do not include any person's reasonable attempt to travel to a safe place, allowing the pursuing law-enforcement officer to maintain appropriate surveillance, for the purpose of complying with the officer's direction to stop.
ARTICLE 7. DANGEROUS WEAPONS.

§61-7-6. Exceptions as to prohibitions against carrying concealed deadly weapons.
The licensure provisions set forth in this article shall do not apply to:
(1) Any person carrying a deadly weapon upon his own premises; nor shall anything herein does this article prevent a person from carrying any firearm, unloaded, from the place of purchase to his or her home, residence or place of business or to a place of repair and back to his or her home, residence or place of business, nor shall anything herein does this article prohibit a person from possessing a firearm while hunting in a lawful manner or while traveling from his or her home, residence or place of business to a hunting site, and returning to his or her home, residence or place of business;
(2) Any person who is a member of a properly organized target-shooting club authorized by law to obtain firearms by purchase or requisition from this state or from the United States for the purpose of target practice, from carrying any pistol, as defined in this article, unloaded, from his or her home, residence or place of business to a place of target practice, and from any such the place of target practice back to his or her home, residence or place of business, for using any such the weapon at such the place of target practice in training and improving his or her skill in the use of such the weapons;
(3) Any law-enforcement officer or law-enforcement official as such are defined in section one, article twenty-nine, chapter thirty of this code;
(4) Any employee of the West Virginia department of corrections duly appointed pursuant to the provisions of section five, article five, chapter twenty-eight of this code while such the employee is on duty;
(5) Any member of the armed forces of the United States or the militia of this state while such the member is on duty;
(6) Any circuit judge, including any retired circuit judge designated senior status by the supreme court of appeals of West Virginia, probation officer, prosecuting attorney, assistant prosecuting attorney or a duly appointed investigator employed by a prosecuting attorney;
(7) Any resident of another state, who has been issued a license to carry a concealed weapon by a state or a political subdivision which has entered into a reciprocity agreement with this state, shall be exempt from the licensing requirements of section four of this article. The governor may execute reciprocity agreements on behalf of the state of West Virginia with states or political subdivisions which have similar gun permitting laws and which recognize and honor West Virginia licenses issued pursuant to section four of this article.




NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to make certain criminal provisions concerning malicious assault, unlawful assault, battery, assault, obstructing, escaping and fleeing from specified law enforcement personnel and their criminal penalties apply to those actions involving parole officers. It also allows parole officers to carry concealed deadly weapons without obtaining a license.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.