When the testimony of a witness for the state is required in a criminal action, before a court of record of this state, and such witness is confined in the penitentiary or in a county jail, an order for the witness’s temporary removal from the penitentiary or such jail, and for the witness’s production before such court, may be made by the court in which the action is pending or by the judge authorized by law to preside at the trial of such action. If the penitentiary or such jail is not located in the county in which the application is made, such order shall be made only upon the affidavit of the state’s attorney or some other person on behalf of the state showing that the testimony is material and necessary, and even then the granting of the order shall be in the discretion of the court or such judge. The order must be executed by the sheriff of the county in which it is made by delivering to the warden or jailer having such witness in charge a copy of such order, and the warden or jailer shall deliver the person so required to such officer and shall take such officer’s receipt for the person endorsed upon the copy of such order. The officer receiving any such person shall take the person before the proper court, shall keep the person safely, and when the person is required no longer as a witness, shall return the person to the custody from which the person was received. Neither the warden nor the jailer shall be responsible for any such person until the person’s return, and upon the return of any such person the warden or jailer, as the case may be, shall endorse the warden’s or jailer’s receipt upon the original order. The sheriff executing any such order shall return the same to the clerk of the district court of the county from which it was issued, and said clerk shall file and preserve the same among the papers in the action. The expense of executing such order shall be paid by the county in which the order shall be made.