Sanctity of Marriage: Texas-style

A 20-year-old man in East Texas has jumped into a quickly arranged marriage after a judge told him he had a choice of getting hitched or spending 15 days in jail on an assault charge.

According to court documents, Smith County judge Randall Rogers gave the option to Josten Bundy, who was arrested in March on a charge of assault causing bodily injury, a misdemeanour. 

Bundy had gotten into a fight with the ex-boyfriend of his then girlfriend and now wife.

The judge said he would grant probation if Bundy married his 19-year-old girlfriend, Elizabeth Jaynes, within 30 days, wrote Bible verses and attended counselling. 

If he declined, he would go to jail, according to a transcript of the proceedings obtained by local TV broadcaster KLTV.

"Is she worth it?" Judge Rogers asked Bundy.

The bride's father was angry at the judge for pressuring the pair into marriage and was looking into whether this was judicial misconduct, he told KLTV.

"He [the judge] can't do this by court ordering somebody to be married," the bride's father, Kenneth Jaynes, said.

The judge was not available for a comment.

The couple, who had talked about eventually getting married but did not have immediate wedding plans, is happy that they have tied the knot but did not appreciate being forced into it, they told the broadcaster. 

"It just felt like we weren't going to be able to have the wedding we wanted," the new bride said. "I didn't even have a white dress."

The couple did, however, post the traditional Facebook image of the wedding day, as you can see above.
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Damien's note: I am trying to wrap my head around a couple of things. I guess Judge Rogers is Christian -- Southern Baptist, if I know Smith County, Texas, and I do -- and so he thought asking the guy to write out Bible verses was appropriate. On the other hand, in that case, how does he reconcile forcing the couple into marriage as part of punishment? Or does he view himself as an over-aged Cupid? Or WTF?