Private Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace (05/09/02)

05/09/2002

The judge required at least fifteen defendants to post cash only bonds between August 31, 2000 and May 14, 2001.  Attorney General Opinion No. JM-363, affirming prior case law, points out that a court is not vested with the discretion to require a cash or surety bond to the exclusion of the other.  The judge misinterpreted the law to read that he could require a cash bond only.  [Violation of Canons 2A and 3B(2) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct.]   Private Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace (05/09/02)