H. B. 4034
(By Delegates Flanigan and Wright)
[Introduced January 14, 2002; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section two, article three, chapter
five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, relating to authorizing the attorney
general to prosecute all offenders of interstate or
intercounty felony crimes committed within the state of West
Virginia.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article three, chapter five of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. ATTORNEY GENERAL.
ยง5-3-2. Act as counsel for state; duties and powers as to
prosecuting attorneys; defense of national guardsmen.
The attorney general shall appear as counsel for the state in
all causes pending in the supreme court of appeals, or in any
federal court, in which the state is interested; he or she shall
appear in any cause in which the state is interested that is pending in any other court in the state, on the written request of
the governor, and when such that appearance is entered he or she
shall take charge of and have control of such cause; he or she
shall defend all actions and proceedings against any state officer
in his or her official capacity in any of the courts of this state
or any of the federal courts when the state is not interested in
such the cause against such the officer, but should the state be
interested against such the officer, he or she shall appear for the
state; he or she shall institute and prosecute all civil actions
and proceedings in favor of or for the use of the state which may
be necessary in the execution of the official duties of any state
officer, board or commission on the written request of such that
officer, board or commission; he or she may prosecute all necessary
and proper proceedings against the offender of interstate or
intercounty felony crimes committed within the state; he or she
shall, when requested by the prosecuting attorney of a county
wherein a state institution of correction is located, provide
attorneys for appointment as special prosecuting attorneys to
assist the prosecuting attorney of said that county in the
prosecution of criminal proceedings when, in the opinion of the
circuit judge of said that county, or a justice of the West
Virginia supreme court of appeals, extraordinary circumstances
exist at said the institution which render the financial resources
of the office of the prosecuting attorney inadequate to prosecute
said these cases; he or she may consult with and advise the several
prosecuting attorneys in matters relating to the official duties of their office, and may require a written report from them of the
state and condition of the several causes, in which the state is a
party, pending in the courts of their respective counties; he or
she may require the several prosecuting attorneys to perform,
within the respective counties in which they are elected, any of
the legal duties required to be performed by the attorney general
which are not inconsistent with the duties of the prosecuting
attorneys as the legal representatives of their respective
counties; when the performance of any such duties by the
prosecuting attorney conflicts with his or her duties as the legal
representative of his or her county, or for any reason any
prosecuting attorney is disqualified from performing such these
duties, the attorney general may require the prosecuting attorney
of any other county to perform such these duties in any county
other than that in which such the prosecuting attorney is elected
and for the performance of which duties outside of the county in
which he or she is elected the prosecuting attorney shall be paid
his or her actual traveling and other expenses out of the
appropriation for contingent expenses for the department for which
such these services are rendered; the attorney general shall keep
in proper books, a register of all causes prosecuted or defended by
him or her in behalf of the state or its officers and of the
proceedings had in relation thereto, and deliver the same them to
his or her successor in office; and he or she shall preserve in his
or her office all his or her official opinions and publish the same
them in his or her biennial report.
Upon request of any member of the West Virginia national guard
who has been named defendant in any civil action arising out of
that guardsman's action while under orders from the governor
relating to national guard assistance in disasters and civil
disorders, the attorney general shall appear as counsel for and
represent such the guardsman.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
authorize the Attorney
General to prosecute all offenders of interstate or intercounty
felony crimes committed within the state of West Virginia.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.