Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1942 )

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN flonorable ii0ma soya Criminal Dirtrict Attorney co11in county *cIUnney, Texas Attention: Honorable Dvlght Uhitvell Dear Slrr eeting the opin.ton therein wear in shall order the ssisure and the wet of e&de, ehall pay all liene and PO forth’. The puniehment of the liquor con- trol act make the offenses misdemeanor:! of which the aounty court is the odly court that h&e jur- icaiOti0n. Acting under the vordlng of thie HonorableBolutd BON, page 2 statute our oounty oourt, after oonviotion 0r the 0SSemes ln that oourt ror the illegal tralu- portrtlon of liquor, in the rama oaee md on the 8-e dooket sheet enter8 M cwder dlreoting the sherlfi to roll the motor vehlole Involved in the ease. 'Que~tlonIlo.One. In viev or tit10 ra0t that the oonetltutlonOS four rorlder th8t the Me- trlot Court rhall have 0x0Pualve jurlrdletlonOS all oivll multn on behalf OS the rtate to de- olare forfeitures,I# this statute and the above prooadure under it, legal or illegal? HO. Tvo. Art101e 950 OS the code "QuelJt10Ll of’ Procedure Grininn that County prorlder the Attoruey 8hall reoelre a oomirrlon OS 10s mul the county olerk 5$ on all timer and forielturer and judgment8 in behalf OS the etrte or oouutq ror the oolleotlan OS noner. Doe0 thle rt8tute whOPi~e the OOUdy OOLWt t0 dlr6Ot the ShUYlff to pay ruoh oorierlons to lald offioere on the rolling OS a Sorfelted prloe 8utomoblle,to be paid out OS the prooeeds of the rale? "In thir oonueotlon,ve derlre to aall pur etai0n t0 tlu 0010 0r me18 ~1. ~FO 116 8. lf.(26) pg. 662 end putloularl& the%l- loving language at the bottm of page 3 wherein the Aurtin 0r ClVll Appeal8 myv, Oourt 'Under the rtatute involved 8nd the ruthorltiecr, the guilt of the automobile, or the state'm right OS forreltwe, 18 imputed upon the aonvlotion OS the ovner 0s person ualng the rutcroblle in the oommlselon OS the offencre~and relater b8ok to the date OS the oommlrrion of the ofSen8e. The prooeedlng 18 therelore not to Sorfeit, but to eeioroe the forfeiture that hau rerultod un- der the statute Srca~the oonrlotlon of unlavful transportation OS intorioatlngliquor, in the oou- mlaslon of vhloh offense the automobilevae used.' 'Our OVP perronal Ideas of the sttuatlon I@ that this vhole prooeadlng le a orlmlnal prooeedlng &muable Poland Boyd, page 3 over vhloh the county oourt ha8 Jurledlotlonad I# not ruoh a olvll aotlon and forfeitureae vould place exoltmlve jwledletlon in the dletrlot oourt, and vluoe ee a reeult of the ofSort of the oounty ettorner a convletion reeulte in a procreoutlon, and a8 a reeult OS euoh oonvlotlona Sorfelture of the oar follow end a judgment 18 thereby ee- owed ordering the sale, and a8 a result of the male the atate Liquor Board reoeiver large maw OS money in oaeh. It ooour~ to w that thlr la a Sorfleture or juwnt on vhioh the above men- tioned fees ehould be paid. "We ace hevbg a large number 0r these pro- oeedlngs in thle oounty and during the part year have psld into the State Liquor Board rover@1 th~ueud dollur on vhloh no looal offloer reoeived any fee8 vhloh, by the ver,, rould have gone to the benefit or our ofrloer~r salary fund. IB the event you hold tbrt ruoh fes8 are eolleotablein euoh prooeedln$e,vlll you &IO ldviee if the oourt vi11 be authorfred to Weot the ulthhold- ing out of future e8lee euffielent Sunda to giaj Seer in part proeaedingn out of vhiah no fee8 vere oolle6ted." Iiaanever to yooa firet ueetion ve cUreof yoour ~ZtentLon to our opinions Hoe. O-4890 end O-4693 vhieh hold that the prwedure uith referenoe to the #ale of rota ve- h&alar under Artlole 666-44, Vernon’s &anotated Peaal Code, am ret out in your letter 18 legal and the proper prooedure to r0ii0v in 8uoh oeeee. In your rirrt gueltlon jou llr o &eked vhether or not thle etetute (&tialo 666-44, eupre), 18 legal or ll.legel? lfeeeeume that you ralee the queetlon OS the oonstitutlanelityof this ltatute. In the owe OS Pbarlrr Y. Slmbrougb 1x8 8. W. (ad) 662 the pueetlon es to the oonetitutionahty of the etetute (Artiole 666-44, lupre), vae raised on aortain ground8 01 mentioned therein aml the oouct held thv otetute to be oomtltutlonal. We WV oonalder the 800084 quartion eubmltted by you. Artlola 950, Vernon~r Aunoteted Oode of Crlmlnal Pro- oedure, provides: %e dletrlot OF oounty attorney shall be entitled to lO$ of all finer, Sorfelturer or ‘?S i-7 . !... .f I rmmreble Roland Boyd, page 4 moneys oolleated Sor tha state or oounty, upon judgments recovered by himI and the olerk of the oourt in vhloh weld judgmentcare rendered shall be entitled to 5s of tha 8mount of said judgments, to be paid out of the amount when collected.” Referring to this statute (Artlols 950, au a) It 1s stated in Texas Jurleprudenoe,Volume 15, page 42r I nS%le enaotnwat v&s intended to oover all reooverles of money SOP the state or oountg for vhloh a particular proceedlag ie lnetltuted and proeeouted to judgment OS reoovery in favor of the state or oounty. Comleelone on adjudged Sorfelturetibeooee due to the attorneys representingthe i3tateonly vhen the money is oolleoted,and they are to be taken out of auah aoney; they are not ooete and oanuot be taxed 88 such. (State v. Dyohes, 28 Tar. 535~ Texas Jurle&qmdenoe,Volume 19, page 817.) We do not think that the procedurevltihreference to the sale of a mot.- vehlole under &%lole 666-44, eupre, is aprocedure to deolam a foP?eltiwe es contemplatedby the Conetitution.~The procedure involved in the dfepoeition of the proymrty eelaed under weld etstute is not a prooeed- lng to forfeit. Ye dlreet your attention to the Wquqe OS the oourt in the a&se of Pharlae Y. Kimbrough, 118 8.Y. (Pd) 662, where the oourt 18 re?ePPlng to euoh a prooeedlq and eeye1 ‘The proceedln$ is therefore not to SorSelt; but to enforce the Sorielture that has rerulted under the statute frcm the oonvletlon of unlavsul transportationOS intoxlaetlngliquor, in the oom- aiasitn OS ,vhlohoffenne the automobile van used. . . . Ue do not think that the statute (Artlole 99, eupra) 1s bread enough to allov the oonml(celon mentioned thareln to the county OPdistrict attomey BC to the clerk OS the oourt in thenproceeding under eonelderetl.on~It vi11 be noted that Article 666-44, eupre. among other things, provider in efreot that the officer making the rele, aStar deducting the expenses of keeping the property, the eelaure, and the ooete of sale, t yenorableRoland Royd, pago 5 *hall pay all llen# aoearding to the prloritler whioh are es- tablirhodby lntorventiOnor othortlroat raid hoariq or In &her prooaedlngrbroqht for raid purpomo, a@ being bona fide, and am having been created vithout the lien or havl.n,g mu notioe that the vehiolo vae being used or vaa to be ured for any illegal tcanrportationof liquor rhall par the klanoe of the prooeedr to the Roard to be allooated ar permit feer. In eonmotion vith the foregoing It 10 our further oplnlon that the dirtriot or county attorney vould not be en- titled to any oomlreion uiwlerArtlolo 335, Vernon88 Annotat- ed Civil 8tatuter. In rupport of thie rtatemeat we dirsot your attention to our 0 inion No. O-2410 (Oonferenoeopinion lo. o-3105) oonntrulngg.tlole 335, Vernon’r Annotated Civil aatuter . e Copier or all the above mentioned opinSon8 referred to am enalored hereirlth.Ue al80 enaloae hwerith oopler of our, oplnlonr nor. O-4722 and O-4040 o*truing Artlola 666-44, Vtinon’a ¬ated Penal Code. Tru8tlng that the raregoing fully wvera your in- a-y, we are xourr very truly A2TOREBXO-OPTXAf5