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Randall Lee Rogers
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Randall Lee Rogers is a judge for Seat 2 of the Smith County Court at Law Texas.
This office is outside of Ballotpedia's coverage scope and does not receive scheduled updates. Our scope includes all elected federal and state officeholders as well as comprehensive coverage of the 100 largest cities in America by population.
Education
Rogers received a B.B.A and a J.D. from Texas Tech University.[1][2]
Noteworthy events
Judge gives man choice of marriage or 15 days in jail (2015)
On July 2, 2015, Josten Bundy pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for punching his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend.[3] Josten was told by Judge Rogers that he had the choice between marrying his girlfriend or spending 15 days in jail. His sentence also entailed writing out Proverbs 26:26, "If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it," 25 times a day. Bundy and his girlfriend, Elizabeth Jaynes, feared that the jail sentence would cause Bundy to lose his job, so they got married within the 30-day window they were given by the judge. They said Rogers would not allow them to first ask Bundy's employer for permission to take the jail time. Jaynes said, "It just felt like 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."[4]
The Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a complaint against Rogers with the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct on August 12. Sam Grover, an attorney at the foundation, said Roger's sentence was illegal.[4]
| “ | Judges cannot require people to get married or force them to write Bible verses. His actions demonstrate a religious bias with significant implications for any nonreligious or non-Christian litigants appearing before him.[5] | ” |
| —Freedom From Religion Foundation attorney Sam Grover[4] | ||
Elections
2014
See also: Texas judicial elections, 2014
Rogers ran for re-election to the Smith County Court at Law.
General: He was unopposed in the general election on November 4, 2014.
2010
Rogers was re-elected to the district court after running unopposed.[6]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Martindale.com, "Judge Profile:Randall Lee Rogers," accessed August 19, 2015
- ↑ Texas Courts Online, "Directory of Trial Courts by County," February 27, 2014
- ↑ CNN, "Man gets a choice: Marry her or go to jail," August 8, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Courthouse News Service, "Ethics Complaint Against Religious Judge," August 18, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Smith County Elections, "Republican Primary Election Results"
Federal courts:
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas
State courts:
Texas Supreme Court • Texas Court of Appeals • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals • Texas District Courts • Texas County Courts • Texas County Courts at Law • Texas Statutory Probate Courts • Texas Justice of the Peace Courts
State resources:
Courts in Texas • Texas judicial elections • Judicial selection in Texas
