SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS

STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE

JOSEPH ARMSTRONG BUILDING 1, ROOM E-100

ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR 1900 KANAWHA BOULEVARD, E.
PHONE: 304-558-0145 CHARLESTON, WV 25305-0145
FAX: 304-558-1212 WWW.COURTSWV.GOV

MEMORANDUM #22-03

TO: All Magistrate Court Clerks

FROM: Olubunmi Kusimo-Frazier, Director, Magistrate Court Services

Brenda Magann, Legal Education Coordinator

DATE: June 7, 2022

RE: SB 616 Court files and law-enforcement records; confidentiality

Please be reminded that SB 616 created a new code section, WV Code § 61-18B-19, effective
today (June 7th, 2022), requiring that all court records which contain identifying information of a
victim in an arrest, investigation, or complaint for sexual offenses be kept confidential and
withheld from inspection, except: (1) when required by law; (2) when necessary for law-
enforcement purposes or preparation for court proceedings; or (3) pursuant to an order of a court
issued in accordance with subsection (c) of this section. If someone wishes to examine or copy a
record that contains identifying information of a victim for one of the below offenses, they must
submit a motion to the circuit court and the circuit court will order which specific documents in
the file can be examined or copied. You can find the new code section here.
Those specific charged offenses include:
• Distribution and display to minor of obscene matter [§ 61-8A-2]
• Use of scene matter with intent to seduce minor [§ 61-8A-4]
• Employment or use of minor to produce obscene matter or assist in doing sexually explicit
conduct [§ 61-8A-5]
• Sexual assault in the first degree [§ 61-8B-3]
• Sexual assault in the second degree [§ 61-8B-4]
• Sexual assault in the third degree [§ 61-8B-5]
• Sexual abuse in the first degree [§ 61-8B-7]
• Sexual abuse in the second degree [§ 61-8B-8]
• Sexual abuse in the third degree [§ 61-8B-9]
• Enhanced penalties for subsequent offenses committed by those previously convicted of
sexually violent offenses against children [§ 61-8B-9b]
• Imposition of sexual acts on persons incarcerated, detained, or under supervision
[§ 61-8B-10]
• Use of minors in filming sexually explicit conduct [§ 61-8C-2]
• Distribution and exhibiting of material depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit
conduct [§ 61-8C-3]
• Prohibiting child erotica [§ 61-8C-3a]
• Prohibiting juveniles from manufacturing, possessing and distributing nude or partially
nude images of minors [§ 61-8C-3b]
• Female genital mutilation [§ 61-8D-3a]
• Sexual abuse by a parent, guardian, custodian or person in a position of trust to a child;
parent, guardian, custodian or person in a position of trust allowing sexual abuse to be
inflicted upon a child; displaying of sex organs by a parent, guardian, or custodian
[§ 61-8D-5]
• Sending, distributing, exhibiting, possessing, displaying or transporting material by a
parent, guardian or custodian, depicting a child engaged in sexually explicit conduct
[§ 61-8D-6]
• Human trafficking of an individual; aiding and abetting human trafficking [§ 61-14-2]
• Use of forced labor [§ 61-14-3]
• Use of persons in debt bondage [§ 61-14-4]
• Sexual servitude [§ 61-14-5]
• Patronizing a victim of sexual servitude [§ 61-14-6]