West Virginia
This page lists the most applicable state crimes addressing stalking.
However, depending on the facts of the case, a stalker might also be charged
with other crimes, such as trespassing, intimidation of a witness, breaking
and entering, etc. Check your state code or consult with your local prosecutor
about other charges that might apply in a particular
case.
Stalking
Related Offenses
Analyzing Stalking
Laws
Stalking
W. Va. Code § 61-2-9a. Stalking; harassment; penalties; definitions. (2008)
(a) Any person who repeatedly
follows another knowing or having reason to know that the conduct causes the
person followed to reasonably fear for his or her safety or suffer significant
emotional distress, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be incarcerated in the county or regional jail for not more than six
months or fined not more than one thousand dollars, or
both.
(b) Any person who repeatedly
harasses or repeatedly makes credible threats against another is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be incarcerated in the county
or regional jail for not more than six months or fined not more than one
thousand dollars, or both.
(c) Notwithstanding any provision of
this code to the contrary, any person who violates the provisions of
subsection (a) or (b) of this section in violation of an order entered by a
circuit court, magistrate court or family court judge, in effect and entered
pursuant to part 48-5-501, et seq., part 48-5-601, et seq. or 48-27-403 of
this code is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
incarcerated in the county jail for not less than ninety days nor more than
one year or fined not less than two thousand dollars nor more than five
thousand dollars, or both.
(d) A second or subsequent
conviction for a violation of this section occurring within five years of a
prior conviction is a felony punishable by incarceration in a state
correctional facility for not less than one year nor more than five years or
fined not less than three thousand dollars nor more than ten thousand dollars,
or both.
(e) Notwithstanding any provision of
this code to the contrary, any person against whom a protective order for
injunctive relief is in effect pursuant to the provisions of section five
hundred one [§
48-27-501], article twenty-seven, chapter forty-eight of this code who
has been served with a copy of said order or section six hundred eight [§
48-5-608], article five, chapter forty-eight of this code who is
convicted of a violation of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of
a felony and punishable by incarceration in a state correctional facility for
not less than one year nor more than five years or fined not less than three
thousand dollars nor more than ten thousand dollars, or
both.
(f) For
the purposes of this section:
(1) "Bodily injury" means
substantial physical pain, illness or any impairment of physical
condition;
(2) "Credible threat" means a threat
of bodily injury made with the apparent ability to carry out the threat and
with the result that a reasonable person would believe that the threat could
be carried out;
(3) "Harasses" means willful conduct
directed at a specific person or persons which would cause a reasonable person
mental injury or emotional distress;
(4) "Immediate family" means a
spouse, parent, stepparent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, child, stepchild,
sibling, or any person who regularly resides in the household or within the
prior six months regularly resided in the household; and
(5) "Repeatedly" means on two or
more occasions.
(g) Nothing in this section shall be
construed to prevent lawful assembly and petition for the lawful redress of
grievances, including, but not limited to: Any labor or employment relations
issue; demonstration at the seat of federal, state, county or municipal
government; activities protected by the West
Virginia Constitution or the United States Constitution or any
statute of this State or the United States.
(h) Any person convicted under the
provisions of this section who is granted probation or for whom execution or
imposition of a sentence or incarceration is suspended is to have as a
condition of probation or suspension of sentence that he or she participate in
counseling or medical treatment as directed by the
court.
(i) Upon
conviction, the court may issue an order restraining the defendant from any
contact with the victim for a period not to exceed ten years. The length of
any restraining order shall be based upon the seriousness of the violation
before the court, the probability of future violations, and the safety of the
victim or his or her immediate family. The duration of the restraining order
may be longer than five years only in cases when a longer duration is
necessary to protect the safety of the victim or his or her immediate
family.
(j) It is
a condition of bond for any person accused of the offense described in this
section that the person is to have no contact, direct or indirect, verbal or
physical, with the alleged victim.
(k) Nothing in this section may be
construed to preclude a sentencing court from exercising its power to impose
home confinement with electronic monitoring as an alternative
sentence.
(l) The
Governor's Committee on Crime, Delinquency and Correction, after consultation
with representatives of labor, licensed domestic violence programs and rape
crisis centers which meet the standards of the West
Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services, is
authorized to promulgate legislative rules and emergency rules pursuant to
article three [§§
29A-3-1 et seq.], chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, establishing
appropriate standards for the enforcement of this section by state, county,
and municipal law-enforcement officers and agencies.
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Related Offenses
W. Va. § 61-3C-14a. Obscene, anonymous, harassing and
threatening communications by computer; penalty.
(2011)
(a) It is unlawful for any person, with the intent to harass
or abuse another person, to use a computer, mobile phone, personal digital
assistant or other electronic communication device
to:
(1) Make
contact with another without disclosing his or her identity with the intent to
harass or abuse;
(2) Make
contact with a person after being requested by the person to desist from
contacting them;
(3) Threaten to commit a crime
against any person or property; or
(4) Cause
obscene material to be delivered or transmitted to a specific person after
being requested to desist from sending such material.
(b) For purposes of this
section.
(1) "Electronic communication
device" means and includes a telephone, wireless phone, computer, pager or any
other electronic or wireless device which is capable of transmitting a
document, image, voice, e-mail or text message using such device in an
electronic, digital or analog form from one person or location so it may be
viewed or received by another person or persons at other locations.
(2)"Use of a computer, mobile phone, personal digital
assistant or other electronic communication device" includes, but is not
limited to, the transmission of text messages, electronic mail, photographs,
videos, images or other nonvoice data by means of an electronic communication
system, and includes the transmission of such data, documents, messages and
images to another's computer, e-mail account, mobile phone, personal digital
assistant or other electronic communication
device.
(3)
"Obscene material" means
material that:
(A) An average person,
applying contemporary adult community standards, would find, taken as a whole,
appeals to the prurient interest, is intended to appeal to the prurient
interest, or is pandered to a prurient interest;
(B) An average person, applying contemporary adult community
standards, would find, depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way,
sexually explicit conduct consisting of an ultimate sexual act, normal or
perverted, actual or simulated, an excretory function, masturbation, lewd
exhibition of the genitals, or sadomasochistic sexual
abuse;
and
(C) A reasonable person would find,
taken as a whole, lacks literary, artistic, political or scientific
value.
(c) It is
unlawful for any person to knowingly permit a computer, mobile phone or
personal digital assistant or other electronic communication device under his
or her control to be used for any purpose prohibited by this section.
(d) Any
offense committed under this section may be determined to have occurred at the
place at which the contact originated or the place at which the contact was
received or intended to be received.
(e) Any
person who violates a provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor
and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $500 or confined in
jail not more than six months, or both fined and confined. For a second or
subsequent offense, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or confined in jail for not more
than one year, or both fined and confined.
W. Va. Code § 61-8-16. Obscene, anonymous, harassing, repeated and threatening telephone calls;
penalty. (2011)
(a) It is unlawful for any person
with intent to harass or abuse another by means of telephone
to:
(1) Make
any comment, request, suggestion or proposal which is obscene;
or
(2) Make
a telephone call, whether or not conversation ensues, without disclosing his
or her identity and with intent to harass any person at the called number;
or
(3) Make
or cause the telephone of another repeatedly or continuously to ring, with
intent to harass any person at the called number; or
(4) Make
repeated telephone calls, during which conversation ensues, with intent to
harass any person at the called number; or
(5) Threaten
to commit a crime against any person or
property.
(b) It
shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly permit any telephone under his
or her control to be used for any purpose prohibited by this
section.
(c) Any offense committed under this
section may be deemed to have occurred at the place at which the telephone
call was made, or the place at which the telephone call was
received.
(d) Any person who violates any
provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not more than $500, or confined in jail not more than
six months, or both fined and confined.
W. Va. Code § 61-8-28. Criminal invasion of privacy; penalties. (2000)
(a) For
the purposes of this section, the words or terms defined in this subsection
have the meanings ascribed to them. These definitions are applicable unless a
different meaning clearly appears from the
context:
(1) "A
person fully or partially nude" means a male or female who is either clothed
or unclothed so that: (A) All or any part of his or her genitals, pubic area
or buttocks is visible; or (B) in the case of a female only, a part of a
nipple of her breast is visible and is without a fully opaque
covering;
(2) "To
visually portray" a person means to create a reproducible image of that person
by means of:
(A) A
photograph;
(B) A
motion picture;
(C) A
video tape;
(D) digital recording;
or
(E) Any
other mechanical or electronic recording process or device that can preserve,
for later viewing, a visual image of a person;
and
(3) "Place where a reasonable person
would have an expectation of privacy" means a place where a reasonable person
would believe that he or she could, in privacy, be fully or partially nude
without expecting that the act of exposing his or her body was being visually
portrayed by another person.
(b) It is
unlawful for a person to knowingly visually portray another person without
that other person's knowledge, while that other person is fully or partially
nude and is in a place where a reasonable person would have an expectation of
privacy. A person who violates the provisions of this subsection is guilty of
a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be confined in a county or regional
jail for not more than one year or fined not more than five thousand dollars,
or both.
(c) Any
person who displays or distributes visual images of another person with
knowledge that said visual images were obtained in violation of subsection (b)
of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be
confined in a county or regional jail for not more than one year or fined not
more than five thousand dollars, or both.
(d) A
person who is convicted of a second or subsequent violation of subsection (b)
or (c) of this section is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be
confined in a state correctional facility for not less than one year nor more
than five years or fined not more than ten thousand dollars, or
both.
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