West Virginia Code 62-1F-1 – Definitions
(a) For the purposes of this article, the following terms have the following meanings:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 62-1F-1
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Offense: includes every act or omission for which a fine, forfeiture, or punishment is imposed by law. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
(1) "Body wire" means: (a) An audio and/or video recording device surreptitiously carried on or under the control of an investigative or law-enforcement officer or informant to simultaneously record a nonconsenting party's conduct or oral communications; or (2) radio equipment surreptitiously carried on or under the control of an investigative or law-enforcement officer or informant to simultaneously transmit a nonconsenting party's conduct or oral communications to recording equipment located elsewhere or to other law-enforcement officers monitoring the radio transmitting frequency.
(2) "Home" means the residence of a nonconsenting party to an electronic interception, provided that access to the residence is not generally permitted to members of the public and the non-consenting party has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the residence under the circumstances.
(3) "Informant" means a person acting in concert with and at the direction of a law-enforcement officer in the investigation of possible violations of the criminal laws of this state or the United States.
(4) "Investigative or law-enforcement officer" means any officer empowered by law to conduct investigations of or to make arrests for criminal offenses enumerated in this code or an equivalent offense in another jurisdiction.
(5) "Electronically intercept" or "electronic interception" mean the simultaneous recording with a body wire of a nonconsenting party's conduct or oral communications in his or her home by an investigative or law-enforcement officer or informant who is invited into the home and physically present with the nonconsenting party in the home at the time of the recording.
(b) Words and phrases that are not defined in this article, but which are defined in article one-d of this chapter, shall have the same meanings established in article one-d unless otherwise noted.