Request By:
Mr. Joseph B. Greene, Jr.
President, Kentucky Sheriff's
Association
P.O. Box 74
LaGrange, Kentucky 40031
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
In your capacity as President of the Kentucky Sheriff's Association, you have been requested to seek an opinion of this office on the following questions:
Question No. 1
"Is the sheriff of a county entitled to a fee for the service of district court subpoena's on behalf of the Commonwealth of Kentucky? If so, what is the proper amount of the fee for service of the district court subpoena and how does a sheriff go about collecting this fee?"
When sessions of the district court are held in other than city facilities [see KRS 24A.140(1)], the sheriff shall be compensated for services in the same manner and at the same rate as for similar services rendered to the circuit court. KRS 24A.140(2).
The mileage allowance of KRS 64.095, since subsection (4) thereof provides that subpoenas served for the Commonwealth do not apply, is inapplicable. However, KRS 64.090 provides that the sheriff may charge and collect for his services the sum of two dollars ($2.00) for summoning each witness. The collection of the fee is conditioned upon the conviction of the defendant and his payment of the fee to the court clerk. See KRS 64.340. Bell County v. Minton, 239 Ky. 840, 40 S.W.2d 379 (1931).
Question No. 2:
"Is the sheriff of a county entitled to compensation for the transportation of a misdemeanor prisoner from one county to another within the Commonwealth of Kentucky? If so, what would be the amount of the fee and from whom should the fee be collected?"
Where the prisoner is not lodged in a city jail in the county of trial or in an urban-county facility in the county of trial, the sheriff of the county where the trial is to be held shall transport the prisoner from the detention facility to the authorized place of further detention. KRS 441.500. Clearly the duty of transporting prisoners from one detention facility to another rests upon the sheriff of the county where the trial will be held, unless the circumstances fall within one of the exceptions established by KRS 441.500(1)(a) and (b) or (2)(a) and (b). Under KRS 441.030, the trial court of jurisdiction can order the defendant to be taken to a jail in another county, where there is no jail, or the jail is insecure, or there is a danger that circuit court prisoners will be removed from the jail by violence. See OAG 80-129, copy enclosed.
As for the sheriff's compensation for transporting misdemeanants from one county to another [between places of detention] , there is, unfortunately, no statutory provision for compensation. It must be noted that "ex officio duties may be imposed by law on public officials and it will be their duty to perform them without compensation if there is no provision of law to that effect." Board of Drainage Com'rs of McCracken County v. Alliston, 198 Ky. 310, 248 S.W. 850 (1923) 851. This matter is one that addresses itself to the General Assembly.