. . 

March 23, 1973 

Honorable Earle Caddel 

District Attorney 

Uvalde. Medina. Zavala 

and Real Counties 

Uvalde County Courthouse 

Uvalde, Texas 78801 

Opinion No. H-20 

Re: Whether a person is qualified 

to serve as a deputy sheriff when 

prior to his appointment as such 

he has been convicted of a felony 

placed on probation and the probationary term has not expired? 

Dear Mr. Caddcl: 

The facts submitted in your request for our opinion are that the 

Sheriff of Zavala County has appointed as deputy sheriff an individual who 

was convicted of a felony three years ago. and is new on probation. The 

Zavala County Commissioners Court.has refused to recognise the appointment and you have asked whether the person is qualified. 

Prior to the codification of the Texas Statutes of 1925, Article 7125 

of Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes of 1914 provided that “No person shall 

be appointed a deputy sheriff who stands~convicted for a felony”. Article 

7125 appears as Article 6869 in the 1925 codification of the statutes except 

that the reference to persons convicted for a felony has been omitted. The 

present statute provides: 

“An indictment for a felony of any deputy 

sheriff appointed shall operate a revocation of 

his appointment as such deputy sheriff . . . .I’ 

Section 2 of Article 16 of the Constitution of Texas provides: 

“Laws shall be made to exclude from office, 

serving on juries, and from the right of suffrage, 

those tiho may have been or shall hereafter be 

convicted of bribery, perjury, forgery, or other 

high crimes . . . ” 

p. 94 
Honorable Earle Caddel, page 2 (H-20) 

A deputy sheriff occupies a public office. Irwin v. State, 177 S. W. 2d 

970, .(Tex. Crim. 1944). The term “other high crimes’* includes any 

offense of the same degree or grade as those specifically enumerated, 

namely felonies. Attorney General Opinion No. O-2698 (1940). 

Article 1.05 of the Texas Election Code provides in part: 

“No person shall be eligible to be a candidate 

for, or to be elected or appointed to, any public 

office fn’this state unless he is a citieen of the 

United States eligible to hold such office under 

the Constitution and laws of this State, and is under 

none of the disabilities for voting which are stated 

in Article VI. Section 1 of the Constitution of Texas 

on the date of his appointment or of the election at 

which he is elected . . . ‘I 

.The disabilities stated in Article 6, Section 1 are persons under 21 

years of age, idiots and lunatics, paupers supported by any county, and 

“all persons convicted of any felony, subject to such exemptions as the 

Legislature may mkke”. The same language is carried forward into 

Article 5.01 of the Texas Election Code. 

It is our opinion, therefore, that a person who stands convicted of 

a felony, whether or not sentence is probated, suffers from a disability 

which disqualifies him from voting. Therefore, under Article 1.05 

of the Election Code he is not eligible to be appointed to any public office, 

including the office of deputy sheriff. 

The.ans,wer to your question, therefore, is that the person described 

is not at the present time, qualified to serve as deputy sheriff. We do 

not pass on whatmay be his rights at some future time. 

p. 95 
.- - 

I 

Honorable Earle Caddel. page 3(H-20) 

SUMMARY 

An individual who was convicted of a felony three 

years ago, and is now on probation, is not qualified 

to be appointed as a deputy sheriff. 

Very truly yours, * 

u Attorney General of Texas 

APPROVED: 

DAVID M; KENDALL, Chairman 

Opinion Committee 

p, 96