Judge Orders 20-Year-Old Man To Marry His 19-Year-Old Girlfriend

After appearing in court on assault charges stemming from a fight with his girlfriend's ex, the judge ordered him to marry his girlfriend, or face jail time.

Josten Bundy was in court after his girlfriend, Elizabeth Jaynes' ex-boyfriend was allegedly saying disrespectful things about her, and Bundy challenged him to a fight.

"[The ex-boyfriend] had been saying disrespectful things about Elizabeth, so I challenged him to a fight,” Bundy told the court. “He stepped in and I felt like it was on and I hit him in the jaw twice.”

Although no serious injuries were endured in the fight, the ex-boyfriend still decided to press assault charges against Bundy. He admitted he was wrong for taking matters into his own hands.

That's when the Judge Randall Rogers laid his orders down.

"You know, as a part of my probation, you're going to have to marry her...within 30 days," the judge said.

Bundy initially thought about going to jail. Not because he doesn't want to marry his girlfriend, but because they have talked about getting married, and both want a big wedding. And not to have to exchange forced nuptials under threat of the court.

When Bundy was considering taking the jail time, he had a question for the judge.

"He offered me fifteen days in jail and that would have been fine and I asked if I could call my job [to let them know],” said Bundy. “The judge told me ‘nope, that’s not how this works.'”

Jaynes said she felt mortified with the forced proposal, as people behind her in the courtroom were laughing.

Legal experts chimed in saying that Judge Rogers had no standing to force Bundy to marry.

"To say you’re not going to be criminally punished if you get married is way out of left field,” said Blake Bailey, a lawyer who practices constitional [sic] law, in an interview with KLTV. “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.”

Ultimately Bundy decided to wed his girlfriend.

[Source]