Texas Judge Tells Man He Can Marry His Girlfriend Or Go To Jail

Josten Bundy was in court for a minor assault charge when Judge Randall Rogers gave him a bizarre ultimatum. He could either marry his girlfriend, or go to the slammer for 15 days. Bundy was initially okay with serving his time, but Judge Rogers said he would not be given an opportunity to inform his workplace of his absence, and so he would probably lose his job.

Bundy was in court after he got into an altercation with his girlfriend’s ex that had been prompted by some provocative remarks made by the ex toward the girlfriend. During the course of the trial, the judge asked Bundy whether the girl was “worth it.” When Bundy replied that she was, the judge told him that he would be freed on probation on the condition that they get married within 30 days. Left with no other viable options, the couple went down to the courthouse and got hitched:

While the newlyweds don’t regret their marriage, they do regret the circumstances that made it immediately necessary.

“We weren’t going to be able to have the wedding we wanted. It was just going to be kind of pieced together. I didn’t even have a white dress,” Hannah, the girlfriend (now wife) said.

The judge also sentenced Bundy to attend therapy for anger management and to repeatedly copy Bible versus in a notebook. Lawyers have been lining up by the dozens to explain why Judge Rogers’ sentence is straight up unconstitutional.

“To say you’re not going to be criminally punished if you get married is way out of left field. 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,” Attorney Blake Bailey told KLTV.

A very bizarre ruling from someone who appears to be a very bizarre judge. Judge Rogers has not yet responded to any media outlet’s inquires for comment.