WEST virginia legislature
2025 regular session
Committee Substitute
for
House Bill 2217
By Delegate Steele
[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary; Reported on February 26, 2025]
A BILL to amend and reenact §61-10-31 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to conspiracy; clarifying the penalty for conspiracy to commit felony crimes of violence against a person or felony crimes where the victim was a minor child; clarifying the penalty for conspiracy to commit felony crimes punishable by life imprisonment; clarifying the penalty for conspiracy to commit felony crimes of kidnapping, arson in the first degree, and sexual assault in the first degree; creating criminal penalties; and making technical corrections.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
## ARTICLE 10. CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC POLICY.
(a) It shall be is unlawful for two or more persons to conspire: (1) to commit any offense against the state, or (2) to defraud the state, the state or any county board of education, or any county or municipality of the state, if, in either case, one or more of such persons does any act to effect the object of the conspiracy.
(b) Nothing in this section shall may be construed to supersede, limit, repeal or affect the provisions of §3-9-8; §5-1-2; §5A-3-38; §20-7-7; §60-6-16, §61-6-7, §61-6-8, §61-6-9, and §61-6-10; or §62-8-1; all of this code. It shall not be is not a defense to any prosecution under this section thirty-one that the conduct charged or proven is also a crime under any other provision or provisions of this code or the common law.
(c)(1) Any person who violates the provisions of this section by conspiring to commit an offense against the state which is a felony, or by conspiring to defraud the state, the state or any county board of education, or any county or municipality of the state, shall be is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary a state correctional facility for not less than one nor more than five years or by a fine of not more than $10,000, or, in the discretion of the court by both such imprisonment and fine.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (1) of this subsection, any person who violates the provisions of this section by conspiring to commit an offense against the state which is a felony crime of violence against the person or a felony offense where the victim was a minor child, as those terms are defined in §62-12-13 of this code, is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in a state correctional facility for not less than three nor more than 15 years.
(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivisions (1) or (2) of this subsection, any person who violates the provisions of this section by conspiring to commit an offense in violation of §61-2-14a, §61-3-1, or §61-8B-3 of this code, or an offense against the state which is punishable by life imprisonment is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in a state correctional facility for not less than five nor more than 25 years.
(d) Any person who violates the provisions of this section by conspiring to commit an offense against the state which is a misdemeanor shall be is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by confinement in the county jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than $1,000, or, in the discretion of the court, by both such confinement and fine.