§ 34.069.Payment of Damages

An indemnity provision, and both its permissive form and its exclusion matter.

A county, at the discretion of the commissioners court, may pay any judgment taken against an officer under the chapter’s liability provisions or under the constable provision of the Local Government Code.

"May, at the discretion of the commissioners court" makes this a political decision rather than a right. An officer facing a judgment has no entitlement to payment and must ask.

The provision exists because of what these officers do. Executing writs means seizing property from unwilling people, and personal liability for honest mistakes would make the work unattractive and the officers cautious in ways that defeat the process.

The list of covered sections is wider here than in the suit provision, and notably includes 34.064 — improper return — which the procedural section omits.

The exclusion is the important half: the section does not apply if the officer is finally convicted under Section 39.02 or 39.03, Penal Code.

Those are abuse of official capacity and official oppression — misuse of government property or services, and mistreatment or unlawful interference under colour of office.

So the county may cover the officer who erred and may not cover the officer who abused the office. That is the right line, and it is drawn by a criminal conviction rather than by the commissioners court’s own view of the conduct.

"Finally convicted" means the conviction must be final, so an appeal still pending does not by itself remove the county’s discretion.