2023 Texas Statutes › Local Government Code › Title 3 - Organization of County Government › Subtitle B - Commissioners Court and County Officers › Chapter 87 - Removal of County Officers From Office; Filling of Vacancies › Subchapter B. Removal by Petition and Trial › Section 87.018. Trial

Sec. 87.018.  TRIAL.  (a)  Officers may be removed only following a trial by jury.
(b)  The trial for removal of an officer and the proceedings connected with the trial shall be conducted as much as possible in accordance with the rules and practice of the court in other civil cases, in the name of the State of Texas, and on the relation of the person filing the petition.
(c)  In a removal case, the judge may not submit special issues to the jury.  Under a proper charge applicable to the facts of the case, the judge shall instruct the jury to find from the evidence whether the grounds for removal alleged in the petition are true.  If the petition alleges more than one ground for removal, the jury shall indicate in the verdict which grounds are sustained by the evidence and which are not sustained.
(d)  The county attorney shall represent the state in a proceeding for the removal of an officer except as otherwise provided by Subsection (e) or (f).
(e)  In a proceeding to remove a county attorney who is not a prosecuting attorney from office, the district attorney shall represent the state.  If the county does not have a district attorney, the county attorney from an adjoining county, as selected by the commissioners court of the county in which the proceeding is pending, shall represent the state.
(f)  In a proceeding to remove a prosecuting attorney from office, the presiding judge of the administrative judicial region in which the petition for removal was filed shall appoint a prosecuting attorney from another judicial district or county, as applicable, in the administrative judicial region to represent the state.
(g)  In a proceeding to remove a prosecuting attorney from office, a prosecuting attorney's public statement establishing that the prosecuting attorney adopted or enforced or intends to adopt or enforce a policy described by Section 87.011(3)(B) or permitted or intends to permit an attorney who is employed by or otherwise under the direction or control of the prosecuting attorney to act as described by Section 87.011(3)(C) creates a rebuttable presumption that the prosecuting attorney committed official misconduct.
(h)  In a trial in which a prosecuting attorney is accused of committing official misconduct under Section 87.011(3)(B) or (C), a court may award reasonable attorney's fees and costs the prosecuting attorney personally spent related to the conduct of the proceeding on finding that the prosecuting attorney did not adopt or enforce a policy described by Section 87.011(3)(B) or permit an attorney who is employed by or otherwise under the direction or control of the prosecuting attorney to act as described by Section 87.011(3)(C), as applicable.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.  Amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 563, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.
Amended by:
Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., Ch. 366 (H.B. 17), Sec. 5, eff. September 1, 2023.