H. B. 4364
(By Delegates Stemple, Shaver and Perry)
[Introduced February 9, 2004; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §61-2-10b of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to including division of forestry
employees in the assault and battery statute with similar
state personnel.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §61-2-10b of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted 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, division of forestry
employees 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, division of forestry 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 thereof, 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, division of forestry 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 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 thereof, 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, division of forestry
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 thereof,
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,
division of forestry 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 thereof, 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
confined.
(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 defined in section
forty-one, article three of this chapter.
(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.
(3) "Division of forestry employee" means person working under
the direction of the director of the division of forestry in
carrying out the duties provided in section four, article three,
chapter twenty and article one-b, chapter nineteen of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to include employees of the
division of forestry employees within the assault and battery
statute with other similar state personnel.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.