Judge Orders 20-Year-Old Man To Marry His 19-Year-Old Girlfriend Or Else Go To Jail


A Judge in Texas gave a man a bizarre option — either marry his girlfriend or head to jail.

Josten Bundy was in court answering charges that he picked a fight with his girlfriend’s ex. The ex was reportedly being disrespectful to Josten’s girlfriend, 19-year-old Elizabeth Jaynes, so the 20-year-old 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.”

The fight ended without any serious injuries, the New York Daily News reported, but the ex still decided to press assault charges.

When he showed up in court, Bundy admitted that he was in the wrong.

“I took matters into my own hands and I know that’s wrong,” he said. “I know I was raised better, but it happened.”

But Judge Randall Rogers the gave the man a strange option — he said Josten had to either marry his girlfriend or face 15 days in jail.

“You know, as a part of my probation, you’re going to have to marry her…within 30 days,” the judge said.

Josten said he initially thought about going to jail. While he and his girlfriend had discussed marriage, they both wanted to have a big wedding and not marry under threat of the court.

But the judge wouldn’t give Josten any help.

“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, who was in the court at the time, said she felt mortified at the forced proposal.

“My face was so red, people behind me were laughing,” she said.

Legal experts said Judge Rogers had no standing to force the man 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 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.”

But Josten Bundy ultimately went along with the judge, deciding to marry his girlfriend.

[Image via KLTV screenshot]

Share this article: Judge Orders 20-Year-Old Man To Marry His 19-Year-Old Girlfriend Or Else Go To Jail
More from Inquisitr