Senate Bill No. 267
(By Senators Mitchell and Kessler)
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[Introduced January 21, 2002; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section two, article four, chapter
seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to allowing county
prosecuting attorneys to enter into cooperative agreements
with other agencies for the services of the prosecuting
attorney's investigator.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article four, chapter seven of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, REWARDS AND LEGAL ADVICE.
§7-4-2. Rewards for apprehension of persons charged with crime
and expenditure of money for detection of crime;
appointment of investigators of crime.
The prosecuting attorney of any county, with the approval
of the county commission, or of the governor, or of the court of
the county vested with authority to try criminal offenses, or of
the judge thereof in vacation, may, within his discretion, offer
rewards for the apprehension of persons charged with crime, or
may expend money for the detection of crime. Any money expended
under this section shall, when approved by the prosecuting
attorney, be paid out of the county fund, in the same manner as
other county expenses are paid: Provided, That the prosecuting
attorneys of the several counties of the state may, with the
approval of the county commissions of their respective counties,
entered of record, appoint to assist them in the discharge of
their official duties, trained and qualified full-time or part-
time investigators of crime. Such full-time investigators shall
accept no other public employment or employment in a private
police or investigative capacity during the term of their
appointment without prior approval of the county commission and
shall be paid such salary and expenses as may be fixed by the
county commission. Such expenses shall be itemized and sworn to
by the investigator upon presentation to the county commission.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, the prosecuting attorney of any county, with the
consent of the judge of the court of competent jurisdiction and the county commission, may appoint an investigator of crime who
need not be a
resident of this state.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow full-time
appointed investigators for prosecuting attorneys to accept
other employment with the prior approval of the county
commission.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.