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2020 SPECIAL SESSION I
20200824DBe it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 18.2-57 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted and that the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 19.2-9.2 as follows:
§ 18.2-57. Assault and battery; penalty.
A. Any person who commits a simple assault or assault and battery is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor, and if the person intentionally selects the person against whom a simple assault is committed because of his race, religious conviction, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, color, or national origin, the penalty upon conviction shall include a term of confinement of at least six months.
B. However, if a person intentionally selects the person against whom an assault and battery resulting in bodily injury is committed because of his race, religious conviction, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, color, or national origin, the person is guilty of a Class 6 felony, and the penalty upon conviction shall include a term of confinement of at least six months.
C. In addition, if any person commits an assault or an assault
and battery against another knowing or having reason to know that such other
person is a judge, a magistrate, a law-enforcement officer as defined in
subsection F, a correctional officer as defined in § 53.1-1, a person directly
involved in the care, treatment, or supervision of inmates in the custody of
the Department of Corrections or an employee of a local or regional
correctional facility directly involved in the care, treatment, or supervision
of inmates in the custody of the facility, a person directly involved in the
care, treatment, or supervision of persons in the custody of or under the
supervision of the Department of Juvenile Justice, an employee or other
individual who provides control, care, or treatment of sexually violent
predators committed to the custody of the Department of Behavioral Health and
Developmental Services, a firefighter as defined in § 65.2-102, or a volunteer
firefighter or any emergency medical services personnel member who is employed
by or is a volunteer of an emergency medical services agency or as a member of
a bona fide volunteer fire department or volunteer emergency medical services
agency, regardless of whether a resolution has been adopted by the governing
body of a political subdivision recognizing such firefighters or emergency medical
services personnel as employees, engaged in the performance of his public
duties anywhere in the Commonwealth, such person is guilty of a Class 6 felony,
and, upon conviction, the sentence of such person shall include a mandatory
minimum term of confinement of six months.
Any person charged with committing an offense in violation of this subsection where the degree of culpability is slight, due to such person's diminished physical or mental capacity or pervasive developmental disorder, or if there is no bodily injury, a jury or the court may find the accused not guilty of violating this subsection but guilty of a simple assault or assault and battery in violation of subsection A, punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to affect the right of any person charged with a violation of this section from asserting and presenting evidence in support of any defenses to the charge that may be available under common law.
D. In addition, if any person commits a battery against another knowing or having reason to know that such other person is a full-time or part-time employee of any public or private elementary or secondary school and is engaged in the performance of his duties as such, he is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor and the sentence of such person upon conviction shall include a sentence of 15 days in jail, two days of which shall be a mandatory minimum term of confinement. However, if the offense is committed by use of a firearm or other weapon prohibited on school property pursuant to § 18.2-308.1, the person shall serve a mandatory minimum sentence of confinement of six months.
E. In addition, any person who commits a battery against another knowing or having reason to know that such individual is a health care provider as defined in § 8.01-581.1 who is engaged in the performance of his duties in a hospital or in an emergency room on the premises of any clinic or other facility rendering emergency medical care is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The sentence of such person, upon conviction, shall include a term of confinement of 15 days in jail, two days of which shall be a mandatory minimum term of confinement.
F. As used in this section:
"Disability" means a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of a person's major life activities.
"Hospital" means a public or private institution licensed pursuant to Chapter 5 (§ 32.1-123 et seq.) of Title 32.1 or Article 2 (§ 37.2-403 et seq.) of Chapter 4 of Title 37.2.
"Judge" means any justice or judge of a court of record of the Commonwealth including a judge designated under § 17.1-105, a judge under temporary recall under § 17.1-106, or a judge pro tempore under § 17.1-109, any member of the State Corporation Commission, or of the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission, and any judge of a district court of the Commonwealth or any substitute judge of such district court.
"Law-enforcement officer" means any full-time or part-time employee of a police department or sheriff's office that is part of or administered by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof who is responsible for the prevention or detection of crime and the enforcement of the penal, traffic or highway laws of the Commonwealth, any conservation officer of the Department of Conservation and Recreation commissioned pursuant to § 10.1-115, any special agent of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority, conservation police officers appointed pursuant to § 29.1-200, full-time sworn members of the enforcement division of the Department of Motor Vehicles appointed pursuant to § 46.2-217, and any employee with internal investigations authority designated by the Department of Corrections pursuant to subdivision 11 of § 53.1-10, and such officer also includes jail officers in local and regional correctional facilities, all deputy sheriffs, whether assigned to law-enforcement duties, court services or local jail responsibilities, auxiliary police officers appointed or provided for pursuant to §§ 15.2-1731 and 15.2-1733, auxiliary deputy sheriffs appointed pursuant to § 15.2-1603, police officers of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority pursuant to § 5.1-158, and fire marshals appointed pursuant to § 27-30 when such fire marshals have police powers as set out in §§ 27-34.2 and 27-34.2:1.
"School security officer" means the same as that term is defined in § 9.1-101.
G. "Simple assault" or "assault and battery" shall not be construed to include the use of, by any school security officer or full-time or part-time employee of any public or private elementary or secondary school while acting in the course and scope of his official capacity, any of the following: (i) incidental, minor or reasonable physical contact or other actions designed to maintain order and control; (ii) reasonable and necessary force to quell a disturbance or remove a student from the scene of a disturbance that threatens physical injury to persons or damage to property; (iii) reasonable and necessary force to prevent a student from inflicting physical harm on himself; (iv) reasonable and necessary force for self-defense or the defense of others; or (v) reasonable and necessary force to obtain possession of weapons or other dangerous objects or controlled substances or associated paraphernalia that are upon the person of the student or within his control.
In determining whether a person was acting within the exceptions provided in this subsection, due deference shall be given to reasonable judgments that were made by a school security officer or full-time or part-time employee of any public or private elementary or secondary school at the time of the event.
§ 19.2-9.2. Prosecution of assault and battery against a law-enforcement officer.
Before any arrest, indictment, or service of a petition in the case of a juvenile is made for a violation of subsection C of § 18.2-57 where the alleged assault and battery was committed against a law-enforcement officer, such alleged assault and battery shall be investigated by another law-enforcement officer who was not the subject of the alleged assault and battery and the arrest, indictment, or service of a petition shall be approved by the attorney for the Commonwealth.