Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

OFFKE OF THE ATTORNEY AUSTIN GENERAL OF TEXAS Eonorabls I-:. P:. Beaslep county Auditor Collin Cocuty 1:cKinaey, Texas Dear Sir: ts asmxoa agninst .OO. He mkes nbout 1. Your first quention is answered in the affir- mative. 2. Your second question is answered in the affir- rzative. 3. Your thlzd question In answered in the negative. 4. Your fourth question is answered in the nega- tire. In your particular Latter the total of dofendantls Konorable k. E. Beasley, Page 7 fine and costs, includin(r. the costs of the cuGias pro fine and mileage to the county fara, is :!z23.00.The defendant should be allovted$2.30 credit on his fine and costs for each day he serves on the county fern.in this case. 5. In answer to your fifth question, it is the opinion of this department that vrhereonly a part of the fine and costs ase aollected, that the money collected should go first to the payment of the costs and the baL ante, if any, to the ariountof the fine, and that where there is not enough coll.ectcdto pay all the coots, the rboneycollected should be prorated betu:eenthe arresting officer, the county attorney and the county, That no of- ficer has priority over another in such E;atter. For ex- a.%ple,if the fine end costs a&ouat to $23.00; as in your case; the fee of t.hacounty attorney amounts to $5.00; the fee of the constable amounts to $13.00 end the trial fee amounts to $4.00; if tho defendant paid S6.00 in cash and the balance is worked out on the county farm the arrost- in6 officer would be entitled to $3.55 of the cash payz.ent, the county attorney.vJouldbe entitled to $1.36 of the cash payment and the county (as its portion of i.hetrial fee) would be entitled to receive $1.09 of the cash paykent. The a::restingofficer and the county attorney v*ouldalso be entitled to receive payment from tbe county uuder Arti- cle itJ55,Code of Criminal Procedure of Texas, one half of the t-lance of their fees for the time the defendant work- ed.oul the balance of his fine and costs. Under the emm- ple quoted above the arresting officer would be entitled to receive from the county the sum of $4.72; the county attorney :ould be entitled to receive from the cbunty the sum of $1.22. The total sum received by the arresting of- ficer from both sources would be $3.27; the total susare- ceived by the county attorney from both sources would be G3.18. C. The amount due under your sixth question would be $7.50. Trusting that this satisfectorilyanswers your inquiry and with best regards, we are Very truly yours