Can a municipal court judge require/order a local constable to serve his summons in a pending criminal municipal case? Can a constable charge a fee for serving the summons? Does a municipal summons fall under the responsibilities list for constables under 86.021 of the local government code?

My initial thinking is that they are not required to do so.

My expert associates Steve and David say no way. That muni judge needs to go find his police officers.

I think your question probably is answered by article 45.202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Section (a) of that article provides that "[a]ll process isssuing out of a municipal court may be served and shall be served when directed by the court, by a peace officer or marshall of the municipality within which it is situated, under the same rules as are provided by law for the service by sheriffs and constables of process issuing out of the justice court, so far as applicable." Thus, in a criminal case, I don't the a muncipal court is authorized to order a constable to serve its process.

That's not to say that a constable cannot serve municipal process. The Code of Criminal Procedure provision is couched in permissive terms, which would seem to indicate that it is not exclusive regarding who may serve municipal court process. It's a bit novel to me, given the history in my jurisdiction, that a constable might undertake any act other than suing the county for a higher salary.

Any fee the constable might charge would have to be set by the commissioners court under section 118.131 of the Local Government Code. The nifty part of all this is that the fee set by the commissioners court might be the county policy which the plaintiffs hang their hat on as the requisite "moving force" in a section 1983 lawsuit when the constable finally gets to use that gun he's been totin' while serving some of this process. Some dogs are better left sleeping.

The constable doesn't want to serve the process but the muni judge was insistant that constables are required to do so. The fee for service was an idea to discourage the practice.....

Thanks for your help!

Yes it is crucial to keep those constables rested. Hugh, the reason Scott was resting is that he is tired from listening to Rock and Roll songs. We are working on the subtitles for the topics at the Civil Seminar in Corpus Christi in Celebration of 50 Years of Rock n Roll.

Wish you were here by pink floyd

the title may not be applicable to county government but the lyrics sure are........