Texas Attorney General Opinion: JC-463 Page: 1 of 5
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- OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL - STATE OF TEXAS
JOHN CORNYN
February 12, 2002
The Honorable Dustanna Rabe Opinion No. JC-0463
Hopkins County Attorney
110 Main Street Re: Disposition of funds previously accumulated
Sulphur Springs, Texas 75482 under pretrial diversion agreements (RQ-0437-JC)
Dear Ms. Rabe:
You ask about the disposition of funds previously accumulated under unauthorized pretrial
diversion agreements.' We conclude that the accumulated "pretrial diversion fees" and the interest
earned on those fees must be returned to the individuals who paid those fees. We also conclude that
unclaimed fees and interest earnings on those fees may become abandoned property that must be
reported and delivered to the Comptroller of Public Accounts.
Your request is a follow-up to Attorney General Opinion JC-0042, in which this
office concluded that a prosecutor, such as the Hopkins County Attorney, may not enter into an
agreement with an offender whereby the prosecutor will defer prosecution in exchange for the
offender's agreement to contribute money to a public or private organization. See Tex. Att'y Gen.
Op. No. JC-0042 (1999). In Attorney General Opinion JC-0119, this office reiterated the conclusion
reached in Attorney General Opinion JC-0042: "[A] prosecutor may not, under any circumstances,
condition participation in a pretrial diversion program upon a contribution to a nonprofit entity."
Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JC-01 19 (1999) at 2. Your predecessor in office implemented a program
that allowed certain individuals charged with misdemeanor crimes to enter into a pretrial diversion
agreement in lieu of prosecution. See Request Letter, supra note 1, at 1. Under the program, an
individual was placed on "probation" and monitored solely by the county attorney's office. See id.
The pretrial agreement required the individual to pay a pretrial diversion "fee" that was deposited
into a "pretrial account" established by your predecessor. See id. But see Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No.
JC-0042 (1999) at 1 ("The prosecutor requires, as a quid pro quo, the offender to contribute to
an organization selected by the prosecutor, which may be governmental... or private ... .")
(emphasis added). This account has a balance of $26,470. See Request Letter, supra note 1, at 1.
In light of Attorney General Opinion JC-0042, you believe the funds in the "pretrial account"
established by the previous county attorney "may have been collected inappropriately," and you are
concerned about the disposition of the funds. See id. at 2.'See Letter from Honorable Dustanna Rabe, Hopkins County Attorney, to Honorable John Cornyn, Texas
Attorney General (Sept. 18, 2001) (on file with Opinion Committee) [hereinafter Request Letter].
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: JC-463, text, February 12, 2002; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth274773/m1/1/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.