Texas Attorney General Opinion: LO97-103 Page: 1 of 6
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office of the attorney generall
'tate of Texas
DAN MORALES
ATTORNEY GENERAL December 5, 1997
The Honorable Jack Skeen, Jr. Letter Opinion No. 97-103
Smith County Criminal District Attorney
Smith County Courthouse Re: Authority of personal bond office to report
Tyler, Texas 75702 findings to magistrate (ID# 39465)
Dear Mr. Skeen:
You ask about the authority of a personal bond office to report to a magistrate information
regarding whether a criminal defendant should be released on personal bond pending trial. We begin
with a review of the relevant law.
Virtually every judge in the State of Texas may act as a "magistrate" for purposes of the
Code of Criminal Procedure.' The code requires a person arrested for a criminal offense to be taken
"without unnecessary delay" to a magistrate in the county where the person was arrested. See Code
Crim. Proc. art. 14.06; id art. 15.17. A magistrate may, if allowed by law, release a person from
custody on bail pending trial. Id art. 15.17; see also Tex. Const. art. 1, 11 (granting prisoners right
to bail, except for capital offenses); id. I la (allowing courts to deny bail in certain cases).
The magistrate before whom a defendant appears after arrest may or may not be the
magistrate who accepted a complaint2 against the defendant or the judge of the court who will
preside over further proceedings in the defendant's case. A judge acting as a magistrate may have
jurisdiction to accept a complaint and release a defendant on bond even though the judge may not
have jurisdiction to try the defendant's case on the merits following the filing of an indictment (in
'Each of the following officers is a magistrate within the meaning of the Code of Criminal Procedure: The
justices of the Supreme Court, the judges of the Court of Criminal Appeals, the judges of the District Court, the
magistrates appointed by the judges of the district courts of Bexar County, Dallas County, Tarrant County, or Travis
County that give preference to criminal cases, the criminal law hearing officers for Harris County appointed under
subchapter L, chapter 54, Government Code, the magistrates appointed by the judges of the district courts of Lubbock
County or Webb County, the magistrates appointed by the judges of the criminal district courts of Dallas County or
Tarrant County, the masters appointed by the judges of the district courts and the county courts at law that give
preference to criminal cases in Jefferson County, the county judges, the judges of the county courts at law, judges of
the county criminal courts, the judges of statutory probate courts, the justices of the peace, the mayors and recorders
and the judges of the municipal courts of incorporated cities or towns. Code Crim. Proc. art. 2.07.
2In this opinion, we use the word "complaint" as it is defined in articles 15.04 and 15.05 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure: a sworn statement charging the commission of an offense. See Code Crim. Proc. arts. 15.04, .05.
For a discussion of other uses of the term "complaint" in the code, see Dix and Dawson, Texas Practice voL 40, Criminal
Practice and Procedure see. 19.01.
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: LO97-103, text, December 5, 1997; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth277285/m1/1/?rotate=90: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.