Mississippi Advisory Opinions April 08, 1983: 19830408 (April 08, 1983)

Advisory Opinion Text

Mr. Frank O. Wynne, Jr.

Assistant District Attorney

Drawer K

Cleveland, Mississippi 38732-1610

Dear Mr. Wynne:

Attorney General Bill Allain has received your opinion request and has assigned it to me for research and reply, a copy of which opinion request I attach hereto and by reference make it a part of rather than copy it in its entirety in the body of this letter.

Your question of whether a conviction under § 97-19-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, constitutes a conviction for receiving property under false pretenses under § 23-5-35, thereby disqualifying the candidate as a qualified elector and, therefore, disqualifying him from serving in the office of constable is a matter already in controversy which the court itself must decide and cannot now be decided by a decision of this office.

Therefore, we pass the following on to you as observations only:

1. Both § 241 of the Constitution of 1890 and § 23-5-35, Mississippi Code of 1972, include as crimes disqualifying a person as an elector “obtaining money or goods under false pretense ” in the former and “obtaining money or goods under false pretenses ” in the latter.

2. Section 97-19-21, ibid , is included under Chapter 19 (headed False Pretenses and Cheats) in a long list of specific acts declaring certain fraudulent representations to be crimes and punishable as there authorized. And from a study of the chapter it would appear that a misdemeanor conviction under § 97-19-21 would be a conviction for obtaining money or goods under false pretenses so as to disqualify such convicted misdemeanant as a qualified elector and therefore as an office holder.

Copies of the cited sections are also attached hereto for handy reference.

Sincerely yours,

Bill Allain, Attorney General.