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All warrants and other process and orders of the Municipal Court shall be directed to the Chief of Police, to be executed by him or her or by one of his or her subordinates. The police officer executing any such process or order shall have the same authority and be subject to the same liability as a Sheriff of the state in performance of like services.
In the discharge of his or her duties and in the trial of cases, the Municipal Judge shall follow the rules prescribed by law for criminal proceedings before a magistrate of the state. The Municipal Judge shall keep a record of all warrants issued by him or her, of all persons arrested and brought before him or her and of all trials, fines or sentences imposed or judgments entered by him or her in a permanent book to be known as the “Municipal Court Docket”. A record of all entries made in such docket shall be signed by the Municipal Judge on the date of such entry.
The Municipal Judge shall keep or cause to be kept a record of every traffic complaint, or other legal form of traffic charge deposited with or presented to the Municipal Court or its Traffic Violations Bureau, if and when he or she shall establish such Bureau, and shall keep a record of every official action by the Court or its Traffic Violations Bureau in reference thereto, including, but not limited to, a record of every conviction, forfeiture of bail, judgment of acquittal and the amount of fine or forfeiture resulting from every traffic complaint deposited with or presented to the Court or Traffic Violations Bureau.
(a) Any person sentenced to imprisonment, or any individual or corporation against whom a fine of $10 or more is assessed, shall have the right of appeal from such judgment of the Municipal Judge to the court having jurisdiction over appeals therefrom, upon the payment of costs and the execution of an appeal bond, with security deemed sufficient by the Municipal Judge, in a penalty of an amount deemed sufficient by the Municipal Judge, and costs, conditioned that the appellant will appear before the Appellate Court on the first day of the next term thereof to answer to the offense with which he or she is charged and to perform and satisfy any judgment which may be entered against him or her by the Appellate Court on such appeal.
(b) In no case shall a fine of less than $10 be imposed by a Municipal Judge if the defendant, his or her agent or attorney object thereto. If an appeal be taken, the warrant of arrest, transcript of the judgment, the appeal bond and other papers and exhibits in the case shall be forthwith delivered by the Municipal Judge to the Clerk of the Appellate Court which shall have jurisdiction to try the case in accordance with law.
(a) The Municipal Judge may punish for contempt a person guilty of any of the following acts:
(1) Contemptuous or insolent behavior towards him or her while he or she is engaged in the trial of a case or in any other judicial proceeding;
(2) Any breach of the peace, willful disturbance or indecent conduct in the presence of such Judge while so engaged, or so near as to obstruct or interrupt his or her proceedings;
(3) Violence or threats of violence to such judge or any officer, juror, witness or party going to, attending or returning from, any judicial proceeding before such Judge in respect to anything done or to be done in the course of such proceeding;
(4) Misbehavior of any officer in his or her official character in respect to any action or judicial proceeding had or pending before such judge or any process, judgment, order or notice therein; and
(5) Willful resistance, in the presence of the Judge by an officer, juror, witness, party or other person to any lawful process or order of such Judge.
(b) An order of arrest may be issued by the Municipal Judge on which any person guilty of contempt may be taken and brought before him or her, or such person may be taken in custody by any officer or person present, upon the oral order of the Judge, and held to answer for the contempt. An opportunity must be given him or her to be heard in defense or explanation of his or her conduct; and the Judge may thereupon discharge him or her, or adjudge him or her guilty of contempt, and punish him or her by fine or imprisonment, or both. The fine shall not exceed $10 or imprisonment of five days.
(c) The conviction for contempt, specifying the particular circumstances of the offense and judgment thereon, shall be entered by the Municipal Judge in his or her docket. A warrant of commitment for the term of imprisonment adjudged may be issued by the Judge, commanding an officer to take the offender to the jail of the county, and the jailer to imprison him or her therein for the adjudged term; and such warrant shall contain a transcript of the entry in the docket. The judgment may include, in addition to the fine, all costs in the case, including cost of arresting and keeping in prison the offender.
(a) (1) Except as may be provided otherwise in any case by state law, the codified ordinances or other ordinances, whenever any person is arrested for any violation of an ordinance of the town or for any offense of which the Municipal Judge has jurisdiction, it shall be lawful for the Municipal Judge, Recorder, Municipal Court Clerk, Chief of Police and the desk sergeant or person in charge of police headquarters to admit such person to bail upon the execution of a bond to the town in such an amount, not less than $25, nor more than the maximum fine which may be adjudged against such person for the offense or offenses he or she is alleged to have committed, plus the costs which could be assessed against him or her, as in the discretion of the officer will secure the prisoner’s presence, conditioned that the accused will appear upon a day named, before the Municipal Judge, to await trial; and every such bond taken shall be filed as soon as practicable with the Municipal Court by the officer approving and taking such bond; and the Municipal Judge, Recorder, Municipal Court Clerk, Chief of Police and the desk sergeant or person in charge of police headquarters shall each have the power to approve any bond taken under the provisions of this section, precedence being given to the ranking officer present when such bond is presented.
(2) No person shall be accepted as surety upon any penal bond unless he or she shall acknowledge the bond before some official duly authorized by the codified ordinances or by state law to administer an oath, and shall make oath that he or she is the owner in fee of real estate situated in Harrison County and worth the amount of the bond over and above his or her debts and liabilities; but the officers hereinbefore named in this section are hereby authorized and empowered to accept a deposit in cash of an amount, not less than the minimum nor more than the maximum hereinbefore specified for a bond, which, in the judgment of the officer accepting the deposit, will be sufficient to cause the prisoner’s appearance upon the day required of him or her before the Municipal Judge to await trial upon the charge against him or her. In the event any person so released upon bond or such deposit shall fail to appear before the Municipal Judge for trial at the appointed time, or, having appeared, shall leave the court without awaiting trial, his or her bond shall be forfeited thereby to the town, and if a cash deposit has been made to secure his or her release, the sum so deposited shall be delivered to the Municipal Judge and by him or her promptly turned into the town treasury to the credit of the General Fund and accounted for by him or her in the same manner that fines collected by him or her are accounted for; and in the event of the forfeiture of a penal bond, the Treasurer shall forthwith take the steps necessary at law for the collection thereof.
(b) No cash bond shall be accepted by any officer authorized to accept such bond unless the prisoner and the officer authorized to accept it are present at police headquarters. The money deposited as security for any person’s appearance shall be deposited with the desk sergeant at police headquarters, to be by him or her safely kept until the next regular session of the Municipal Court, when it shall be turned over by the desk sergeant who received it to the Judge of the Municipal Court, and by the Judge disposed of as required by the bond and this and subsection(a) above.
(c) If any officer shall accept or approve any cash bond at any place or in any other manner than is provided for and authorized by this article, such unauthorized acceptance or approval shall constitute good cause for his or her suspension or removal or the reprimand or fining of such officer after a hearing on the charge by Council. In case of the arrest of any person upon a charge of a felony, the bond for his or her release, if approved, shall only be approved by the Municipal Judge, or the Judge of a court having jurisdiction to try the prisoner for the felony alleged to have been committed by him or her.
(d) No practicing attorney, officer of the Municipal Court or member of the Police Department shall be accepted as surety on any bond provided for in this section.
(a) Cost. Every person within the town who is convicted of or pleads guilty to a misdemeanor before the Municipal Court shall pay the sum of $10, which shall be deposited into the General Account of the town.
(b) (1) Regional Jail and Correctional Facility authority fee. In addition to the present court costs which may be lawfully imposed, an additional cost shall be imposed in an amount of not less than $42 in each proceeding; except that, such additional cost shall not be assessed for a traffic offense that is not a moving violation or an offense for which the ordinance does not provide a period of incarceration.
(2) Administration fee. Of this $42 imposed as an additional cost, $2 shall be an administrative cost to be retained by the town.
(c) Crime Victim’s Compensation Fund. Every person within the town who is convicted of or pleads guilty to a misdemeanor before the Municipal Court, other than a traffic offense that is not a moving violation, shall pay the sum of $8 as costs in the case, in addition to any other court costs that the court is required by law to impose upon such convicted person. The Court, wherein such additional costs are imposed, shall, on or before the tenth day of the following month, transmit all such costs received under this article to the West Virginia State Treasurer for deposit in the West Virginia State Treasury to the credit of a special revenue fund to be known as the Crime Victim’s Compensation Fund.
(d) Law Enforcement Training Fund. Every person within the town who is convicted of or pleads guilty to a misdemeanor before the Municipal Court, other than a traffic offense that is not a moving violation, shall pay the sum of $2 as costs in the case, in addition to any other court costs that the court is required by law to impose upon such convicted person. The Court wherein such additional costs are imposed shall, on or before the tenth day of the following month, transmit all such costs received under this article to the West Virginia State Treasurer for deposit to the credit of a special revenue account for the funding of law enforcement training academies and programs.
(e) Community Corrections Act. Every person within the town who is convicted of or pleads guilty to a misdemeanor before the Municipal Court, other than a traffic offense that is not a moving violation, shall pay the sum of $10 as costs in the case, in addition to any other court costs that the court is required by law to impose upon such convicted person. The Court wherein such additional costs are imposed shall, on or before the tenth day of the following month, transmit all such costs received under this article to the West Virginia State Treasurer to be credited to the West Virginia Community Corrections Fund.
(f) Fines. Any citation issued through Nutter Fort Municipal Court shall have a fine imposed.
(g) Municipal Court technology/maintenance fee. The Municipal Judge shall assess a mandatory $55 fee upon each and every defendant found guilty or pleading guilty or pleading nolo contendere regarding a misdemeanor violation, including traffic violations and moving violations. The town shall use the money raised by this fee to update and maintain the Municipal Court’s technology as needed.
(Ord. passed 9-24-1985; Ord. passed 7-14-1987; Ord. passed 6-23-1992; Ord. passed 4-22-2008; Ord. 2022-02, passed 3-22-2022)
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