A young man was sentenced by a judge to marry his girlfriend at a Texas courthouse or face jail time after the judge heard an assault case against him.
Judge Randall Rogers of Smith County ordered 20-year-old Josten Bundy in July to marry 19-year-old Elizabeth Jaynes within 30 days. Rogers also ordered Bundy to write Bible verses and get counselling as part of his probation, according to KLTV.
Bundy was sentenced on assault charges after he got into a fight with Jaynes' former boyfriend in February.
"[Jaynes' former boyfriend] had been saying disrespectful things about Elizabeth, so I challenged him to a fight. He stepped in and I felt like it was on and I hit him in the jaw twice," Bundy said.
During the sentencing, Rogers asked Bundy "Is she worth it?"
"I said, well to be honest, sir, I was raised with four sisters, and if any man was talking to a woman like that, I'd probably do the same thing," he said.
"You know, as a part of my probation, you're going to have to marry her...within 30 days," the judge told him.
If he didn't, he would spend 15 days in jail.
"He offered me 15 days in jail and that would have been fine and I asked if I could call my job. The judge told me 'nope, that's not how this works,'" Bundy said.
Jaynes attended the hearing and was so embarrassed.
"My face was so red, people behind me were laughing. [The judge] made me stand up in court," she said.
Because of the court order, the couple applied for a marriage license and chose a date to be married by the justice of the peace.
"It just felt like we weren't going to be able to have the wedding we wanted," said Jaynes. "It was just going to be kind of pieced together, I didn't even have a white dress."
Jaynes would have wanted a dream wedding, but a courthouse wedding took place.
"I used to watch Say Yes to the Dress and all those shows and all the dresses and think about what kind of dress I would have," she said.
Bundy said they were really planning to marry just six months after they started dating and he was dreaming of wearing a black tuxedo.
Their family members failed to attend the courthouse wedding.
"My father didn't get to go, and that really bothers me, I know he would have liked to be there. None of my sisters got to show up, it was such short notice, I couldn't get it together," said Bundy.
Jaynes' father, Kenneth, is angry at the judge.
"[I felt] anger; I was mad. [The judge] can't do this by court ordering somebody to be 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 said.
The couple regret not having their dream wedding.
"What if we [had said to the judge] we don't want to get married right now and we're not ready? Is he going to go to jail? It scared us, a little bit," said Jaynes.
They are planning to have another wedding in the future.
