H. B. 3284
(By Delegates Lane (By Request) and Walters)
[Introduced March 25, 2005; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §61-2-9 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to requiring that persons accused
of committing a battery submit to a test for infectious
diseases; requiring that the accused person pay for such test.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §61-2-9 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.
§61-2-9. Malicious or unlawful assault; assault; battery;
penalties.
(a) If any person maliciously shoot, stab, cut or wound any
person, or by any means cause him
or her bodily injury with intent
to maim, disfigure, disable or kill, he
or she shall, except where
it is otherwise provided, be guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction, shall be punished by confinement in
the penitentiary a
state correctional facility not less than two nor more than ten
years. If such act be done unlawfully, but not maliciously, with the intent aforesaid, the offender shall be guilty of a felony and,
upon conviction, shall, in the discretion of the court, either be
confined in
the penitentiary a state correctional facility not less
than one nor more than five years, or be confined in jail not
exceeding twelve months and fined not exceeding five hundred
dollars.
(b)
Assault. -- If any person unlawfully attempts to commit a
violent injury to the person of another or unlawfully commits an
act which places another in reasonable apprehension of immediately
receiving a violent injury, he
or she shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be confined in jail for not
more than six months, or fined not more than one hundred dollars,
or both such fine and imprisonment.
(c)
Battery. -- If any person unlawfully and intentionally
makes physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with the
person of another or unlawfully and intentionally causes physical
harm to another person, he
or she shall be guilty of a misdemeanor
and, upon conviction, shall be confined in jail for not more than
twelve months, or fined not more than five hundred dollars, or both
such fine and imprisonment.
(d) Any person convicted of a violation of subsection (b) or
(c) of this section who has, in the ten years prior to said
conviction, been convicted of a violation of either subsection (b)
or (c) of this section where the victim was a current or former
spouse, current or former sexual or intimate partner, a person with
whom the defendant has a child in common, a person with whom the defendant cohabits or has cohabited, a parent or guardian, the
defendant's child or ward or a member of the defendant's household
at the time of the offense or convicted of a violation of section
twenty-eight of this article or has served a period of pretrial
diversion for an alleged violation of subsection (b) or (c) of this
section or section twenty-eight of this article when the victim has
such present or past relationship shall upon conviction be subject
to the penalties set forth in section twenty-eight of this article
for a second, third or subsequent criminal act of domestic violence
offense, as appropriate.
(e) Any person accused of a violation of subsection (c) of
this section shall be required to submit to a test for infectious
diseases. The accused shall be required to pay for the test.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require that persons
accused of committing a battery submit to a test for infectious
diseases; and require that the accused person pay for such test.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.