Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN Hr. II. A. Hodges County Auditor I Williamson county .' Georgetown, Texzs Dear Sir: cpinion no. O-404 Re: Sheriff's and misdemeanor examining trYa%?. Your request for opinion *Would the sheriff FrocedureV cr attaching witnesses in the county where case is pdnding. Prcvided nc sheriff cr constable shell receive from the State any additicnal mileage for any subsequent arrest of 3 defendant in the same case, or in any ether case in an exanining court or in any district ccurt bssed upon the same charge cr upon the same criminal act, or growing out cf the same criminal transaction, whether the arrest is made with or without 3 warrant, or before or after indictment, and in no event shall Mr. LT.A. Hodges, Xarch 8, 1939, Page 2. he be allowea to duplicate his fees for mileage for making arrests, with or without warrant, or when two or more warrants 0r arrest or caplases are served or could have been served on the same aerendant on any one day." Article 1072 of the Code Or Criminal Procedure of Texas reads as r0ii0ws: "Sheriffs and constables serving process and attending any examining court in the examlnationor a misdemeanor case shall be entitled to such fees as are allowed by law for similar services in the trial of such cases, not to exceed three dollars in any one *ase, to be paid by the defendant in uase of final conviciion.w You will note that paragraph2 of Article 1020 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides a manner in which sheriffs and constables on the fee system may collect mileage In felony examin- ing trial cases from the State of Texas. You will also 'notethat Article 1072 of the'COde Or Criminal Procedure prescribesthe amount or $3.00 as the limit of fees which the sheriff and constablemay receive in misdemeanor examiningtrial cases. It will be further noted that there is no provisionwhatever made in Article 1072 of the Code of Criminal Procedurefor the payment of any mileage to the sheriff and constable. It will be noted further that the fees charged in Article 1072, Code Or Criminal Procedure,are charged against the defendantand not against the State of Texas, as in Article 1020. YOU are, therefore,~respectfully advised that it is the opinion of this Department that the sheriff or constable would not be allowed mileage in an examiningtrial in a misdemeanor ~390 in eadition to the sum of $3.00 or an amount less than $3.00, as set out under Article 1072 of the Code or crImIna1 Procedure. It,is the opinion of this Departmentthat the sheriff or constable cannot charge or collect more than $3.00 as his fees in a'nexamining trial in a misdemeanor case. Very truly yours ATTORNEXCZNERAI.OF TEXAS BY (Signed) wm. J. Fanning Assistant