Johnson County DA questions indicted Sheriff Adam King’s eligibility to serve
A high-ranking Johnson County official is questioning whether the suspension of Sheriff Adam King’s peace officer license disqualifies him from continuing in his role as sheriff.
Timothy Good, the district attorney for Johnson and Somervell counties, has requested an opinion from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton regarding the issue.
King, who is in his third term, is accused of making repeated and unwelcome sexually charged remarks toward female employees, showing favoritism to women who spent time alone with him, and threatening his chief deputy to stay quiet about it, according to court documents.
A grand jury indicted the 57-year-old sheriff on two felony counts of retaliation against a witness and one misdemeanor count of abuse of office related to sexual harassment in August. On Oct. 1, he was indicted on one count of aggravated perjury.
The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement suspended King’s peace officer license on Sept. 9, according to online records. King placed himself on administrative leave in August, but was given permission by a judge to resume his law enforcement duties on a restricted basis following an Oct. 2 court hearing in the criminal case.
On Oct. 9, Good asked Paxton to issue an opinion on whether the suspension of King’s license automatically prohibits him from continuing as sheriff. As a secondary issue, Good asked how the loss of King’s license affects his deputies, who are appointed by the sheriff and derive their authority from him.
In a supplemental brief Good sent to Paxton on Oct. 20, the district attorney lays out his argument against King’s eligibility to serve.
“The Texas legislature sought to specifically disqualify any sheriff from continuing to serve in that position should he be unable to maintain an active permanent peace officer license or qualify by previous service as a federal agent or in the military,” the brief states. “Thus, Johnson County Sheriff Adam King cannot serve as Sheriff as long as his license is suspended.”
According to Good, King has been directing the Sheriff’s Office through his deputies who have active licenses. Under Texas law, deputies derive their authority from the acting sheriff. If King were disqualified, Good questioned how that would affect the role of his deputies.
“The District Attorney’s Office wants to ensure that the power and authority that deputies in the sheriff’s office are acting under is not questioned in the commission of their work as it relates to protecting the public and investigating criminal acts, many of which are filed with the District Attorney’s Office,” Good said in the brief.
King’s attorneys say the sheriff has been notified by TCOLE that he’s allowed to continue serving in the role.
“According to TCOLE he retains the ability to perform administrative duties such as the appointment of deputies and is still considered a peace officer,” County Attorney Bill Moore told Johnson County officials in an Oct. 10 email.
Moore said his office has been researching Texas laws and former Attorney General opinions on the subject ever since the sheriff’s indictment. He doesn’t believe the suspension of King’s license automatically disqualifies him from serving as sheriff or affects the authority of his deputies.
“It will certainly be beneficial to have an Attorney General Opinion that addresses those questions,” Moore wrote in the email.
King’s defense attorneys Matt Smid and Mark Daniel say that Good’s motives are political.
“Despite written notification from TCOLE, the DA’s Office sent this request for an opinion,” Smid and Daniel said in an emailed statement to the Star-Telegram. “This just goes to show how far the DA will go to obtain his true goal, to have the Sheriff removed from office.”
King has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. Another of his attorneys, Bill Mason, said in a previous statement to Star-Telegram media partner WFAA-TV that King “would not, and did not, do anything wrong, inappropriate, or illegal.”
This story was originally published October 22, 2025 at 10:01 PM.
