Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

OFFICE OF THE A’l7ORNEY GENERAL OF ?‘m AUSTIN HonorableAlex Jung County.Attomet Ollleepie CoulltJ Fredericksburg,Texas Dear Sir: Op iniol no. O-4126 Re~8 kIdor the faots ret forth ir ft perrisaible to tq the o8ae before eome per- 80LLagreed upon betveen the aounty attorney and the derendant or hie at- ;;= And l’dAtOd QUOB- . Your FOQUOSt for Our 09iniO~ On the hbrelnabove mp- tioned Question8ban beea noelved b this departme&. We quote from your letter (LBrollowr~ “Lee Its, a realdent oltlren of Oiller$ie County, Texaa, but rerldlng out&lo of the llmlts of Jurtlae Preelnot go. 1 aad also out- side OS the corporate llmlts 05 the Cltr of Frederfakkrburg, etandr ahmged by oomplslnt filed In the Jurtlce Court or Preolnot Ho. 1, of Oilleeple County, ‘Poxal. vlth a gane viola- tion vhloh ocmrmd outside OS the llmlte or euah city and preoinot. The Juetlae of the ,Peaaehas elgnlfledhi8 disQuallflcationin this particular caee on the ground of relatlon- ehfp vlthia the prohibiteddegree. There 8n nine jumtioe preqttaotsin Ollleaple County but then 20 no Justice'of,thePerae other then the one mentioned in euoh oountj, none other havlng been elected or appointed. “it l l* gonorableAlex Jung, Page 2 "1. The Quoted statutes being inadequate to deal vlth the situationpresented under the foregoing facts, 1s it pemieslble to try th,y case before some person agreed upon between ths County Attorney and the defendantor his attorxmy? "1; In the absence of an agreement,vho has the pover and authority to appoint a special justice to try the cause? "3. The CormieelonereCourt being poeeoaeed of the paver to ill1 vaaanciee by appointmnt (Art. 235~5)~ does such court also have the lesser pover to appoint a epeclal juetloe to try the partluular cause?" We note in your letter th0 etatem0nt that8 "There are nine juatloe pmoincte in Oilleep~e County l * .*." Ye reepXI%lly aall your attention to Article V, Seatlon 18 of the Texaa Constitutionvhiuh permlta "not lees than four and not non than eight," juet~leeprecinctr. Artlole 552 of Vernon's Annotated Code of Crw Proo0dureraada as Pollovel "Art. 552. (617) (606) Causes which die- qualify : 50 judge or in any case Maen vhere he has been of oouueel for the Stati or the accused, or vhere the aoaueed or the party injured may be oonneotedwith him by eOn8anguinltj or af- finity within the third degree." (Undereoorlng ours) Article 553 of sald Code provides for the seleotion of a special district judge In the event the regular dletrlat Judge is dlepuallfledin a orllllinbloaee. Artlale 554 of said Code provides for a apeoial oountx judge vhare the regulw coun- ty j-0 La die&mlified In a urlmlnal uasb. Article 558, Vernon's Annotated Code of Criminal Pro- 1 aedure,provide6 that: 586 gonorable Alex Jung, Page 3 "Art. 558. (624) (611) Justice dlequallfied “If a justice of the peace be d.ZagualifLed from aSttl.w in a119crlmlnal actlon Dendlmz be- fore him, he shall-transferthe name-to th; near- ent justice of the pence of the county vho is not dlsqualiflsdto try It.” .(UnderEcorlngours) Article 2399, Vemonn’e Annotated Civil gtatutee,pro- videe for a special justice of the peace in cas88 only. Where, ne under the facts stated by you, there la only OM justice of the ‘,eaaein a county, and he is dlequall- fled, ve are unable to find any etatutory authority for the selectionor appolntmnt of 0 special justice In a arlminal oaee, either bg agreementof the parties or otherwise. Inasmuch aa the Texas Constitutionrequlrae each aoun- ty to be divided .lntojustice aourt precincta,not leas than fournor more than eight Zn ntuaber(Art. V, i?eo.18), it vae no doubt antlolpated+bythe Leglalature that e&oh county vould have more than one jue*lce-.pf the peaoe and bonsequentlya euffiolant procredure provided for%y AArt1ol.e558, aupra, where a justice of ,thepeace la dlaqusllfled¶.na criminal case. The fact that there la only one juatlce of the pea00 in the county, does not have the effeot of authorielngthe ap- pointment of a apeclnl justice of the paaue, either by agree- ment between the aounty attorney and ~defendant,or by the Com- tiselonereCourt or any one else. The only statutoryauthorltJ f'orthe trial in such a case 1s in accordancevlth the piwvi- alone of Article 558, supra: Judges can only be aelaated and croaaiseloned to preside over a court an.18 provided by law and statutesprovldlng for apeelal juwee Iwit be strictly oonstrued. Orogm vs. Robinson (Clv. App.), 8 3. W. (2d) 571, (error refused). While Article 2355, Veimon’e Annotated Civil Statutes, gives the Comal.seloner~Court the payer to fill a vacancy ln the offloe of justloe of the penoe, It does not, in our opinion, give said court the power to appoint a epeolal justice to tFy a particular case. In vlev Of the foregoing, Ye rea,pbCtfully UIBWOrYOUr three questions,under the facta stated, as follo~~i . . EonoFable Alex Jung, Psge 4 1. It is~not permissible to try the case before som person agreed upon between the county attorney and the defendant or his attorney. 2. Ve have been unable to find any statutoryor con- stitutionalauthority authorlelngthe appointmentof a special Justice to try the particular case mentioned, and, therefore, no ona has the povsr or authority to make such appointment. 3. Although the ComalselonersCourt has the paver, under Article 2355, .Vernon’sAnnotated Crvil Statutea, to PI11 vacancies ln the offloe of Justice of the pe8oe, said Article does not oonfer on aaid court the pover to appoint a spsclal Justice to try the particular case laentloned. Thank- you for the able brief eubmlttedby you, ve an Very truly 'youn CC"'r-y,I?;!? ATTORBEY aRlmAL OF TRXAS