OFFICE OF l-HE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 

iionorabk &well Cwbron 

County AudItor 

kiogcml County 

Sulphur Spring, Texas 

Dear 3lr: 

843 

to be 

ut :a part or such 

OOSt. 

Your letter 0r June 

ion OS’ this department 

as follovs: 

uest1ng the o&Anated therein, reads 

stlan, As 

to the COUAof coat read 

e prisoner has stayed on the COLUIty farm until he ovea a balance of $11.00 he pays 

the cc*a~t~ farm manager this amount and la releaaed. 

“Shoulcl the $11.00 be rieposited to the credit 

of the oounty f8xm fund ml6 the oonsteble be p8id 

his usual one half fee from the county faxttl fund, 
844 

Honorable X?s?Jell Caznbron, page 2 

vhioh i.n this aase voilld be $4.754 Or vould tha 

canstable have Sir& olalm on this money and be 

paid $9.50 of’ the $11.00 \rhJ.oh vxUi be his full 

Pee. Please give oooiplete information 8s to how 

the above mentioned $11.00 should be distributed, 

taking into conaideratlon that the prlaoner hes 

worked out $8.50 Oi the $19.50 fZna. Alao akiould 

the county farai manager give thfa money to the 

J. P. for him to dlstrlbute?’ 

The Court of Crlmmal Appeals of Texas has deflnitely reoognll;eQ that prlmnera should be given credit on their 

f’inea and ooata for service In jail or ln the vork houae or 

other publfc vorlca. Ths court alao definitely reoogelred the 

right of a oomldt to aewe part of hla time tn jai& and pay 

the balanoe In oaah. 

(24) 141 

(See the 0886 of Ex perte Xlll, 15 S.U. 

The Court of Criminal A-la of Tsxaa slao reaogniaea a distinction between the cm-edit to be allowed for aervioe In jail under Artlole 793 and Artlale 920 ot the Code of 

Cl?imillal Proaedurs. Article 793, applies to tha aati8fwti~ 

of judglienta and misdemeanor cases in courxa other than justice 

COuPt38. Artlole 920 applies alone to oonvictiona before uaticsa of the pamoe. 

5 

Xx parte Fe-r, 57 S.W. (26) 57 4 ; 

Ex parte Bk3lma@iLin, 

8.W. (26) 863) 

0 S.Y. (26) 781 and Ex parts YouAg, 136 

In a letter 09ial.o~ writtan Augut 20, 1935, by 

Honorable Leon Eloaea, Aaaiatant Attorney General, to Honorable D. 0. Wood, County Attorney, Wllllsa~on County (Volume 

368 Letter Opinions of the Attorney General of Texea, pege 

C$6j Lt was.beld by this department that in a 

9f 

owe in juutlae 

cotta where the fine and costa are leaa then 30.00, the 

proper and mawllrrble way to allow credit fop time apent Ln 

jail would be ts d.Lvide the 8mwnt or the tiae aud oosts by 

ten, which Is the minLmum number of day8 that the defendant 

must serve before being released w&r Artlole 920, Coda of 

Criminal Procedure. 

In our Opinion Do. O-1015, it le utetedz 

“&a gouP letter 3ou used an illuatratlon of 

Q persm who vas comicted of 8 mi.adet&eaa&r (in 

juetioe oourt) and his penalty effirsd at a f;tns 

of $1.00 end caata of $13.00" lrmking D tots1 OS 
845 

Honorable mewell Cambran, page 3 

$14.00, rtated the convict had served four days 

.ln jail, wished to pay the balance of hlu fine 

and costs Ln cash, and thereby obtain iramedlete 

radlcr. In this specific lnetance ve are of the 

opinion that defendant should be allowed. credit 

;; ;.ig per day, vhioh at four days would amount 

Substractlng the $5.60 es jail credit 

from.&e’total amount of $14.00 would leave a baiance of $8.40, vhlch should be paid in order to 

obtain the rrleare of a defend&at from austody.” 

Opinion No. O-1792 of this department holds: 

* it is the opinion of this department 

that &e;e’ohly a part of the flhe M oosts are 

collected, that the money oollected should go first 

to the payment of the oosts and the balanos, if 

any, to the mount of the fine, awl that where 

there 18 hot enough oolleoted to pay all the oosts, 

the mohey oolleoted should be prorated between 

the arresting offloef, the aountg attoraey and 

the county. That no offlasr has priority over 

ahother In such msttar. For example, if the fihe 

and oosts amount to $23.00, as in your ease, the 

fee of the oouhty attorney am0untr to 45.00; the 

fee of the oonstable amounts to $13.00 ahd the 

trial fee amounts to $4.001 if the defendant paid 

$6.00 ln cash and the balance 18 worked out on 

the county farm the arsestlng offloer would be 

entitled to 43.55 of the cash payment, the oountp attorney vould be entitled to $1.36 of the aash 

payment and the county (as its portion of the trial 

See) vould be entitled to reoeive 41.09 of the cash 

payment. The arresting officer and the oousty attorney would also .be entitled to receive payment 

from the county under Article 1055, Code of Crlminal Procedwe of Texas, one half of the balance of 

their fees for the time the defendant worked out 

the balance of his fine and costs. Under the 

example quoted above the arr?rsstl.ng officer vould 

be entitled to receive from the county the 8~81 of 

$4.72; the county attorney would be entitled to 

receive from the county the sum of $l&. The 

total sum received by the arresting officer from 
I 

846 

Hrmorable Xevell CaWro~, pa&e 4 

both sources would be $8.271 the total sum recelved by the county attorney Srom both sources 

would be $3.18.” 

Under the fact8 stated In your letter the proper and 

reasolaeble may to allow credit for time spent on the county 

farm would be divide the amount of fine and cOSt8 by ten, 

vhioh 18 the ml~.lmum Aumber Of drjr8 that the defer&At mu8t 

serve before being ralsaeed usder Article 920, Code of Calminal Prooedure. TaklAgthe amount Of the fine and008t8 

whioh is $19.50 and dlvldlng by ten would amount to $1.95 

per day vhioh should be credited for the defendant for each 

say he spent 05 t2m county farm. 

The OOAStabh 18 entitled UZidezl &tic18 1055, VerAOA'S &AOtated Code OS Cr1llLfJlal Prwedure, t0 have half cOSt8 

on that part of the time the defendant worked on the county 

farm the same to be properly prorated. Opinion Ro. O-1578 of 

thl8 departBent hold8 that a oonmtabla 18 entitled W&r Article 1055, Code of Criminal Procedure of Texas, to have half 

COStS oh that part 0s the ts.me a defeAdaAt mmaina in jail 

or Works for the County Vhen he so diScha.rgeS a part Of the 

fine and costs and pays off a part aAd that the same 8hau be 

properly prorated. 

The preoinot OfflQerS 0s Hopklnr County are compensated on a fee baais (md the county OfflCiidS of 8al.d aounty 

are compensated on an annual salary baria. 

That portlon of the money reoelved by the county attorney must be deposited in the Offlaers* Salary Fund IIS fegulred by the Officers' Salary Lav. 

It 18 noted that the bill! Of QOStS 8hOVS that the 

constable has a charge aa an arre8tm fae Of $5.50. Article 

1065 cf the Code of CrfixlnRl Brooedure, allows the sum of 

$2.00 for each arrest. The bill, of costs does not reflect 

any charge for mileage in the ease under eonslderation. Por 

the purposes of this opinion Ye assume that the $3.50 vhioh 

is reflected a8 an arrestlAg fee OoAstltutes a char&e of $1.50 

ior takrng and appxovlng the bmd, $1.00 for release, and 

$1.00 fox commitmsnt. Ye further assume that all of there 

services mere performed by the constable. 

In the case under con8Sderation the SLne and costs 

amount to $19.50, the See of the CouAtg attorney aBLOL&AtS to 
Bonorabk IIeu411 Ombron, ~464 5 

$5.00~ the fee of the comtable amounts to $9.50 and the trial 

Pee amour&8 $0 $4.00. After dafendant paid $11.00 in cash 

and the balance we18 worked out on the county farm the constable would be entitled to $5.65 of the carh payment, the, 

county attorney would be entitled to $2.96 of the oath payment and the county (a8 it8 portion of the trial tea) would 

be entitled to reoeive $2.39 OS the aash payment. A8 heretofore at&ted the amount received by the county attorney must 

be depoeitsd in the Qfflaerr ) 58lary Fund of the aounty. The 

conetable vould alro be entitled to Feeeive payrunt from the 

aounty under Article 1055, Code of Criminal boccdure, onehalf of the balance of hir fee for the time the d4f4Bdsnt 

worked out the balanae of hle fLns and 4ort8. 'Phl8 vould 

amount to #1.93. The total WE reoelv4d by th4 constable 

from both 80~088 would be $7.58. eb4 county Sarm manager 

should par this money to the jurtiae o? the peaae. 

We enclore herewith 0 

o-1792, o-3769, O-4924 and o-157 3 

trr of our iIplnion$ Boo. 

. 

YOur8 very trulJ 

ATTORIIEY OlCWtAL OF TBXX3 

Aaal8tant 

AU rdb 

Encloaurer