(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to use intimidation, physical force or threats of such, or to attempt to do so, against any person, with the intent to:
(1) Impede or obstruct the administration of justice, by any police officer or judicial officer as defined in West Virginia Code 61-5-27, as amended, in the discharge of that person’s duties;
(2) Influence, delay, or prevent the testimony of any person in an official proceeding; or
(3) Cause or induce any person to:
A. Withhold testimony, or withhold a record, document, or other object, from an official proceeding;
B. Alter, destroy, mutilate, or conceal an object with intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding;
C. Evade legal process summoning that person to appear as a witness, or to produce a record, document, or other object in an official proceeding; or
D. Be absent from an official proceeding to which such person has been summoned by legal process.
(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in any conduct and thereby cause bodily injury to another person or to damage the tangible property of another person, or to threaten or to attempt to do so, with intent to retaliate against any person:
(1) For that person’s discharge of duties as a police officer or judicial officer, witness, juror, or other member of the court; or
(2) For the attendance of a witness or party at an official proceeding, or for any testimony given or for the production of any record, document, or other object produced by a witness in an official proceeding.
(c) Any person who violates this section shall be punished as provided in Section 501.99.
(d) For the purposes of this section, “official proceeding” means a proceeding pending before any judge, and the testimony given or to be given, or the record, document or other object produced or to be produced need not be admissible in evidence or free of a claim of privilege at the time of the commission of any unlawful act as provided in this section.
(Ord. 98-31. Passed 7-6-98.)