A municipal court clerk violates Section 36.02 of the Penal Code when he or she accepts money from a citizen to destroy, conceal, or remove traffic citations from the court files even though the clerk never did destroy, conceal, or remove the citations.

• A. True
• B. False
• C. Only if the clerk actually destroyed the citations
• D. Only if the citizen reports it

Answer: (A)

Bribery of a public servant is committed when a person offers or confers, or agrees to confer, a benefit on a public servant with the specific intent to influence the performance of official duties, and the public servant accepts or agrees to accept that benefit. Here, the municipal court clerk is a public servant, and the citizen’s payment to cause destruction, concealment, or removal of traffic citations is a benefit offered to influence the clerk’s duties. The crime is complete when the clerk accepts the bribe, even if the clerk never actually destroys, conceals, or removes the citations. The offense does not depend on the final alteration of records occurring, nor on someone reporting it. The key point is the act of accepting a bribe to influence official duties.