Senate Bill No. 431

(By Senator Sprouse)

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[Introduced February 9, 2000; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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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 thirty, relating to the "child safe protection act"; and granting discretion to circuit judges to enhance sentencing of persons convicted of a crime of violence, committed in the presence or hearing of a minor child, up to two years beyond the maximum sentence provided for the crime of violence.

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 thirty, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.
§61-2-30. Child safe protection act.

(a) If any person be adjudicated guilty upon a verdict or plea of guilty to any felony involving a crime of violence to another person in which the other person receives physical injury while doing so in the presence or hearing distance of any minor child, the court is vested with authority to increase the maximum penalty provided by law for the criminal conduct up to an additional two years.
(b) Before an enhancement of sentence may apply under this section, a finding must be made or adopted by the court that a minor child was present or within distinct hearing distance of the violent behavior constituting or contributing to the crime. In the event of a jury verdict of guilty, a special interrogatory shall be submitted to the jury after the verdict requiring the jury to unanimously make a finding that a minor child was present or within distinct hearing distance of the violent behavior constituting or contributing to the crime before any sentence may be increased under this section.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create the "child safe protection act." The bill provides that a circuit judge may enhance the sentence of a violent felonious offender who injures another during the commission of the crime when the crime is committed in the presence or hearing distance of a minor child.

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