Bill Text: WV HB4668 | 2020 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Creating the misdemeanor crime of trespass for entering a structure that has been condemned
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-3)
Status: (Passed) 2020-04-15 - Chapter 94, Acts, Regular Session, 2020 [HB4668 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2020-HB4668-Engrossed.html
WEST virginia legislature
2020 regular session
ENGROSSED
Committee Substitute
for
House Bill 4668
By Delegates Miley, Lovejoy, Evans, Caputo, Waxman, Rohrbach, Worrell and Pushkin
[Introduced February 04, 2020; Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §61-3B-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to creating the misdemeanor crime of trespass for entering a structure that has been clearly marked as condemned by a municipality as unfit for human habitation; providing criminal penalty; providing that for a first offense, a municipal judge or magistrate may substitute community correction or pretrial diversion before imposing a penalty.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 3B. TRESPASS.
§61-3B-2. Trespass in structure or conveyance.
(a) Any person who
knowingly enters in, upon or under a structure or conveyance without being
authorized, licensed or invited, or having been authorized, licensed or invited
is requested to depart by the owner, tenant or the agent of such owner or
tenant, and refuses to do so, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined not more
than $100 or confined in jail not more than six months: Provided,
That for any first offense under this section (a), the presiding judicial
officer may order pretrial diversion to include community service in accordance
with §62-11C-1, et seq., in lieu of imposing a fine or term of
confinement.
(b) If the offender is armed with a firearm or other
dangerous weapon while in the structure or conveyance, with the unlawful and
felonious intent to do bodily injury to a human being in said structure or
conveyance at the time the offender knowingly trespasses, such offender shall,
notwithstanding the provisions of §61-7-1 of
this code, be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined not less than $100 nor more than $500, or be confined in the county
jail for a period not to exceed up to 1 year, or both such fined
and imprisonment confined.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create the crime for trespass of a condemned structure.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.