
ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 4115



(By
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegates Varner,

Stemple, Michael, Kominar, Cann and Amores
)
[Passed March 5, 2002; in effect from passage.]
AN ACT
to amend and reenact section nine, article one, chapter five
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact section nine,
article ten, chapter sixty-two of said code, all relating to
providing that correctional officers at state facilities and
regional jails have authority to execute warrants on persons
in their custody; and authorizing correctional officers to
apply for fugitive from justice warrants when they have
reasonable grounds to believe persons in their custody are
charged with crimes in other states.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That section nine, article one, chapter five of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended and reenacted; and that section nine, article ten, chapter
sixty-two of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 5. GENERAL POWERS AND AUTHORITY OF THE GOVERNOR,
SECRETARY OF STATE AND ATTORNEY GENERAL; BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS;
MISCELLANEOUS AGENCIES, COMMISSIONS, OFFICES, PROGRAMS, ETC.
ARTICLE 1. THE GOVERNOR.
§5-1-9. Hearing after arrest; application for writ of habeas
corpus; arrest and confinement of fugitives from another
state; bail; persons involved in criminal or civil actions in
this state.
(a) No person arrested upon a warrant shall be delivered over
to the agent whom the executive authority demanding him or her
shall have appointed to receive him or her unless he or she shall
first be taken forthwith before a judge of a court of record in
this state, who shall inform him or her of the demand made for his
or her surrender and of the crime with which he or she is charged,
and that he or she has the right to demand and procure legal
counsel and if the prisoner or his or her counsel shall state that
he or they desire to test the legality of his or her arrest, the
judge of the court of record shall fix a reasonable time to be
allowed him or her within which to apply for a writ of habeas
corpus. When a writ is applied for, notice thereof, and of the
time and place of hearing thereon, shall be given to the
prosecuting attorney of the county in which the arrest is made and in which the accused is in custody, and to the agent of the
demanding state.
(b) Any officer who delivers to the agent for extradition of
the demanding state a person in his or her custody under the
governor's warrant, in willful disobedience to subdivision (a) of
this section, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction
thereof shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars or be
imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
(c) The officer or persons executing the governor's warrant of
arrest, or the agent of the demanding state to whom the prisoner
may have been delivered, may, when necessary, confine the prisoner
in any city, county or regional jail; and the keeper of the jail
shall receive and safely keep the prisoner until the officer or
person having charge of him or her is ready to proceed on his or
her route, the officer or person being chargeable with the expense
of keeping.
The officer or agent of a demanding state to whom a prisoner
may have been delivered following extradition proceedings in
another state, or to whom a prisoner may have been delivered after
waiving extradition in the other state, and who is passing through
this state with such a prisoner for the purpose of immediately
returning the prisoner to the demanding state may, when necessary,
confine the prisoner in any city, county or regional jail; and the keeper of the jail shall receive and safely keep the prisoner until
the officer or agent having charge of him or her is ready to
proceed on his or her route, the officer or agent, however, being
chargeable with the expense of keeping: Provided, That the officer
or agent shall produce and show to the keeper of the jail
satisfactory written evidence of the fact that he or she is
actually transporting a prisoner to the demanding state after a
requisition by the executive authority of the demanding state. The
prisoner may not be entitled to demand a new requisition while in
this state.
(d) Whenever any person within this state shall be charged on
the oath of any credible person before any judge or magistrate of
this state with the commission of any crime in any other state and,
except in cases arising under subdivision (g), section seven of
this article, with having fled from justice, or with having been
convicted of a crime in that state and having escaped from
confinement, or having broken the terms of his or her bail,
probation or parole, or whenever complaint has been made before any
judge or magistrate in this state setting forth on the affidavit of
any credible person in another state that a crime has been
committed in the state and that the accused has been charged in the
state with the commission of the crime, and, except in cases
arising under subdivision (g), section seven of this article, has fled from justice, or with having been convicted of a crime in that
state and having escaped from confinement, or having broken the
terms of his or her bail, probation or parole, and is believed to
be in this state, the judge or magistrate shall issue a warrant
directed to any peace officer commanding him or her to apprehend
the person named therein, wherever he or she may be found in this
state, and to bring him or her before the same or any other judge,
magistrate, or court who or which may be available in or convenient
of access to the place where the arrest may be made, to answer the
charge or complaint and affidavit, and a certified copy of the
sworn charge or complaint and affidavit upon which the warrant is
issued shall be attached to the warrant.
(e) The arrest of a person may be lawfully made also by any
peace officer, or a private person, without a warrant, upon
reasonable information that the accused stands charged in the
courts of a state with a crime punishable by death or by
imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, but when so arrested
the accused must be taken before a judge or magistrate with all
practicable speed and complaint must be made against him or her
under oath setting forth the ground for the arrest as in the
preceding section and thereafter his or her answer shall be heard
as if he or she had been arrested on a warrant. Correctional
officers may, additionally, make complaint against persons in their custody for whom they have a reasonable belief stand accused of
crimes, punishable by death or confinement for a term exceeding one
year, in the courts of another state.
(f) If from the examination before the judge or magistrate it
appears that the person held is the person charged with having
committed the crime alleged and, except in cases arising under
subdivision (g), section seven of this article, that he or she has
fled from justice, the judge or magistrate must, by a warrant
reciting the accusation, commit him or her to the county or
regional jail for a time not exceeding thirty days, and specified
in the warrant, as will enable the arrest of the accused to be made
under a warrant of the governor on a requisition of the executive
authority of the state having jurisdiction of the offense, unless
the accused give bail as provided in subdivision (g) of this
section, or until he or she shall be legally discharged.
(g) Unless the offense with which the prisoner is charged is
shown to be an offense punishable by death or life imprisonment
under the laws of the state in which it was committed, a judge or
magistrate in this state may admit the person arrested to bail by
bond, with sufficient sureties, and in a sum as he or she considers
proper, conditioned for his or her appearance before him or her at
a time specified in the bond, and for his or her surrender, to be
arrested upon the warrant of the governor of this state.
(h) If the accused is not arrested under warrant of the
governor by the expiration of the time specified in the warrant or
bond, a judge or magistrate may discharge him or her or may
recommit him or her for a further period not to exceed sixty days,
or a judge or magistrate may again take bail for his or her
appearance and surrender as provided in subdivision (g) of this
section, but within a period not to exceed sixty days after the
date of the new bond.
(i) If the prisoner is admitted to bail, and fails to appear
and surrender himself or herself according to the conditions of his
or her bond, the judge, or magistrate, by proper order, shall
declare the bond forfeited and order his or her immediate arrest
without warrant if he or she is within this state. Recovery may be
had on a bond in the name of the state as in the case of other
bonds given by the accused in criminal proceedings within this
state.
(j) If a criminal prosecution has been instituted against the
person under the laws of this state and is still pending, the
governor, in his or her discretion, either may surrender him or her
on demand of the executive authority of another state or hold him
or her until he or she has been tried and discharged or convicted
and punished in this state: Provided, That any person under
recognizance to appear as a witness in any criminal proceeding pending in this state may in the discretion of the governor be
surrendered on demand of the executive authority of another state
or be held until criminal proceeding pending in this state has been
determined: Provided however, That any person who was in custody
upon any execution, or upon process in any suit, at the time of
being apprehended for a crime charged to have been committed
without the jurisdiction of this state, may not be delivered up
without the consent of the plaintiff in an execution or suit, until
the amount of the execution has been paid, or until the person
shall be otherwise discharged from the execution or process.
(k) The guilt or innocence of the accused as to the crime for
which he or she is charged may not be inquired into by the governor
or in any proceeding after the demand for extradition accompanied
by a charge of crime in legal form as provided in this article has
been presented to the governor, except as it may be involved in
identifying the person held as the person charged with the crime.
CHAPTER 62. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE.
ARTICLE 10. PREVENTION OF CRIME.
§62-10-9. Power and authority of sheriffs, deputy sheriffs and
correctional officers to make arrests.
Sheriffs and each of their deputies are hereby authorized and
empowered within their respective counties to make arrests for any
crime for which a warrant has been issued in violation of any laws of the United States or of this state, and to make arrests without
warrant for all violations of any of the criminal laws of the
United States, or of this state, when committed in their presence.
A correctional officer may execute a warrant, issued for the arrest
of a person, only when the person named in the warrant is already
in the custody of the officer or when the person voluntarily
surrenders to the correctional officer at the county or regional
jail or a state correctional facility at which the correctional
officer is employed.