Texas judge tells Josten Bundy to marry girlfriend, read the Bible, or face charges of assault
A Texas judge is making headlines after his bizarre ruling to a man facing charges for punching his girlfriend’s former lover: get married and read the Bible or go to jail.
Smith County Judge Randall Rogers presented Josten Bundy with the two alternatives of 15 days of jail time or he had to marry Jaynes, along with writing down Bible verses and going to counseling.
“You know, as a part of my probation, you’re going to have to marry her…within 30 days?” Rogers told Bundy.
Bundy, 21, punched his girlfriend, Elizabeth Jaynes’s, ex-boyfriend because her ex-boyfriend said “disrespectful things,” according to testimony.
Jaynes, 19, said they had discussed marriage in the past, neither was ready to tie the knot within 30 days.
“It just felt like we weren’t going to be able to have the wedding we wanted,” Jaynes said. “It was just going to be kind of pieced together; I didn’t even have a white dress.”
Bundy stated he would have actually preferred the jail time had he not been afraid of losing his job due to taking so much time off.
The couple was married 18 days into Bundy’s probation period. Bundy’s family wasn’t able to make it to the wedding because of the short notice.
Although Judge Randall’s sentence is unorthodox, this is not the first time a judge has made marriage the payment for a crime, although such sentences are more common in countries other than America which have stricter laws against premarital sex.
