West Virginia Code § 49-4-732

Hearing to determine juvenile's competency to participate in the
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proceedings.
(a) Not more than 15 judicial days after receiving the evaluator's report, the court shall
conduct a hearing to determine the juvenile's competency to participate in the proceedings.
The court may continue the hearing for good cause shown.
(b) The competency evaluation report is admissible as evidence in the competency
proceedings. The qualified forensic evaluator may be called as a witness and is subject to
cross examination by all parties. If authorized by the court, hearings held pursuant to this
section may be conducted by or participated in using teleconfereunce or video conference
technology. If the court contacts the qualified forensic evaluator to obtain clarification of the
report contents, the court shall promptly inform all parties atnd allow each party to
participate in each contact.
(c) In determining the competency of the juvenile to participate in the proceedings, the court
shall consider the content of all competency evalualtion reports admitted as evidence. The
court may consider additional evidence introdsuced at the hearing by the prosecuting
attorney, the juvenile's attorney, or guardian ad litem.
(d) (1) Except as otherwise providedg, the court shall make a written determination as to the
juvenile's competency based on a preponderance of the evidence within 10 judicial days
after completion of the hearing. The applicable burden of proof shall be as set forth in
§49-4-727 of this code.
(2) The court shall not find a juvenile competent to proceed solely because the juvenile is
receiving or has received in-patient treatment or is receiving or has received psychotropic or
other medication, even if the juvenile might become incompetent to proceed without that
medication.

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