Email WV Code

Email: Chapter 27, Article 12

ARTICLE 12. OFFENSES.

§27-12-1. Malicious making of medical certificate or complaint as to mental condition.

Any physician who signs a certificate respecting the mental condition of any person without having made the examination as provided by this chapter, or makes any statement in any such certificate maliciously for the purpose of having such person declared mentally ill, intellectually disabled or an inebriate, and any person who maliciously makes application to any circuit court or mental hygiene commission for the purpose of having another person declared mentally ill, intellectually disabled, or an inebriate, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not exceeding $500, or imprisoned not exceeding one year, or both fined and imprisoned at the discretion of the court.

§27-12-2. Trespass on grounds of state hospitals.

The enclosed premises and the lands adjoining the same belonging to any one of the state hospitals are hereby declared private grounds; and if any person be found thereon without authority, permission or good excuse, he shall be deemed a trespasser, and, on conviction thereof, shall be fined not exceeding $25; and if it shall appear that he was thereon for any unlawful or immoral purpose, in addition to being fined, he shall be imprisoned not exceeding sixty days.

§27-12-3. Miscellaneous offenses.

If any person shall entice any patient from any state hospital who has been legally committed thereto, or attempt to do so; or shall counsel, cause, influence or assist, or attempt to do so, any such patient to escape or attempt to escape therefrom, or harbor or conceal any such patient who has escaped therefrom; or shall, without the permission of the superintendent of any such hospital, give or sell to any such patient, whether on the premises thereof or elsewhere, any money, firearms, drugs, cigarettes, tobacco, or any other article whatsoever; or shall receive from the hands of any such patient anything of value, whether belonging to the state or not; or shall cause or influence, or attempt to cause or influence, any such patient to violate any rule or to rebel against the government or discipline of such hospital; or shall tease, pester, annoy, or molest any such patient, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than ten nor more than $100, or imprisoned not exceeding six months, or, in the discretion of the court, both fined and imprisoned. If any person shall aid or abet the commission of any of the foregoing offenses or aid or abet an attempt to commit the same, he shall be guilty of the same as if he were the principal, and be punished as above provided. In the trial of an indictment for committing any of the above-named offenses, the accused may be found guilty of an attempt to commit the same, or of aiding or abetting another in committing or in an attempt to commit the same. If any person, not her husband, shall have sexual intercourse with any female patient who is a patient of any of said state hospitals, he shall be guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be confined in the penitentiary not less than ten nor more than fifteen years; and if such female patient be under sixteen years of age, he shall be imprisoned not less than ten nor more than twenty years.