(a)Issuance. – Upon the request of the attorney for the state the court shall issue a warrant for each defendant named in an information supported by a showing of probable cause under oath as is required by Rule 4(a), or in an indictment. Upon the request of the attorney for the state a summons instead of a warrant shall issue. If no request is made, the court may issue either a warrant or a summons in its discretion. More than one warrant or summons may issue for the same defendant. The clerk shall deliver the warrant or summons to the sheriff or other person authorized by law to execute or serve it. If a defendant fails to appear in response to the summons, a warrant shall issue. (b)Form. –
(1)Warrant. – The form of the warrant shall be as provided in Rule 4(c)(1). It shall describe the offense charged in the indictment or information and it shall command that the defendant be arrested and brought before the court. The amount of bail may be fixed by the court and endorsed on the warrant. (2)Summons. – The summons shall be in the same form as the warrant except that it shall summon the defendant to appear before the court at a stated time and place. (c)Execution or service; and return. –
(1)Execution or service. – The warrant shall be executed or the summons served as provided in Rule 4(d)(1), (2) and (3). A summons to a corporation shall be served by delivering a copy to an officer or to a managing or general agent or to any other agent authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process and, if the agent is one authorized by statute to receive service and the statute so requires, by also mailing a copy to the corporation’s last known address within the county or at its principal place of business elsewhere in the state. The officer executing the warrant shall bring the arrested person promptly before the court. (2)Return. – The officer executing a warrant shall make return thereof to the court. At the request of the attorney for the state any unexecuted warrant shall be returned and canceled. On or before the return day the person to whom a summons was delivered for service shall make return thereof. At the request of the attorney for the state made at any time while the indictment or information is pending, a warrant returned unexecuted and not canceled or a summons returned unserved or a duplicate thereof may be delivered by the clerk to the sheriff or other authorized person for execution or service. (d)Remand to the magistrate court for trial of misdemeanor offense. – If the information or indictment charges a misdemeanor offense and the offense has not previously been brought before a magistrate, the case may be remanded to the magistrate for a trial on the merits as provided for in Chapter 50, Article 5, Section 7, of the West Virginia Code of 1931, as amended.
W.Va. R. Crim. P. 9
Effective October 1, 1981; amended effective September 1, 1995.
