Redneck shotgun politics in Texas has fallen to a new low. Judge Randall Rogers of Smith County ordered Josten Bundy to marry his 19-year-old girlfriend and write down bible verses or serve 15 days in jail for a misdemeanor assault charge. The marriage was ordered to occur within 30 days of the ruling.
Bundy would have lost his job if he went to jail, so he and Elizabeth Jaynes got married. But, the couple said they weren’t quite ready for marriage. Constitutional lawyer Blake Bailey said such an order is absolutely illegal. “No, you can’t offer probation by marriage,” said Bailey. “It sounds like the old days of shotgun weddings, but not even the judge is capable of enforcing, what he thinks is best for some people in his court.”
It’s no judge’s place or business to make such a backwoods court ruling. Texas is circling the drain.