Shotgun Judicial Wedding Texas Style

Some morons who acquire the privilege of donning a black robe and ascending the bench get it into their deluded minds that the powers invested in them to control other people’s lives go far beyond convention and the laws of the land. I’ve seen this kind of thing happen time and time again during my long legal career.  Power has a tendency to swell a judge’s head.

Smith County Texas Court Judge, Randall Rogers, actually thinks he has the power to force a criminal defendant trapped before him in his court to make the choice of either getting married or going to jail. He's literally presiding over shotgun judicial weddings Texas style.

Josten Bundy, 21, found this out the hard way. The poor sap had pled guilty and was standing before the judge for his sentencing hearing last month on a petty assault charge. He had apparently punched his girlfriend’s ex boyfriend for allegedly making insulting comments about her.

At this point the court had several options within his legitimate powers to deal with the defendant. He could impose a jail sentence; a fine; probation; or any combination thereof. He could impose a suspended sentence or no penalty at all – just a warning perhaps. But this judicial moron wasn’t satisfied with the legal options within his power. He thought he had the right to fashion his own brand of Christian justice.

He inquired of his prisoner whether she (his girlfriend) was worth fighting for. “Yes,” replied the sap. So the Texas judicial tyrant gave the boy this choice: either he submit to a sentence of probation requiring him to marry the lass within 30 days, together with attending counseling, and writing bible verses, or go directly to jail for 15 days.

You see, this bible thumping judicial moron thinks that he has the legal and constitutional right to sentence defendants in his court to write bible verses and get married or be incarcerated; take your choice.

They got married 18 days after the sentencing. “He offered me fifteen days in jail,” said the sap later, “and that would have been fine and I asked if I could call my job [to let them know].... But “the judge told me ‘nope, that’s not how this works’… I just wonder what would have happened if Hannah said no, had we said, ‘you know judge, we would like to get married on our own terms.’”

Hannah, the 19-year-old girlfriend, admitted that the Judge embarrassed her with his offer. That “quicky” courthouse wedding before a justice of the peace wasn’t the one she dreamed about when she used to watch the TV reality show, “Say Yes to the Dress”  about a bridal salon.

“We weren’t going to be able to have the wedding we wanted,” she told reporters. “It was just going to be kind of pieced together. I didn’t even have a white dress… My face was so red, people behind me were laughing,” she said. “[The judge] made me stand up in court.”

Needless to say, the father of the hapless bride was outraged that a judge could order someone to get married. “I contacted a couple of lawyers but they told me someone was trying to pull my leg…that judges don't court order somebody to get married,” he told reporters.

The Associated Press tried to reach judge Rogers for questions about his authority to mete out such a sentence, but calls to his chambers went unanswered and calls to his home phone were met with recordings that he was not available.

Of course, this judicial moron had no such constitutional or legal authority to do what he did to his victims. No wonder he’s hiding out now. It was simply his lame brained idea of a shotgun judicial wedding Texas style.