There is hereby established in the City of Greenfield a Municipal
Court, to be known as the "Greenfield Municipal Court, a Division
of the 28th Judicial Circuit Court of the State of Missouri". This
Court is a continuation of the Police Court of the City as previously
established and is termed herein "The Municipal Court".
The jurisdiction of the Municipal Court shall extend to all
cases involving alleged violations of the ordinances of the City.
[R.O. 2006 § 115.290]
The Municipal Judge shall be appointed by the Mayor with approval
of a majority of the members of the Board of Aldermen, for a term
as specified herein, and shall possess all power and authority granted
to Municipal Judges under applicable State laws or Court rules.
A.
The
Municipal Judge shall vacate his/her office under the following conditions:
A.
The
Municipal Judge shall possess the following qualifications before
he/she shall take office:
1.
He/she must be a licensed attorney, qualified to practice law
within the State of Missouri.
2.
He/she need not reside within the City.
3.
He/she must be a resident of the State of Missouri.
4.
He/she must be between the ages of twenty-one (21) and seventy-five
(75) years.
5.
He/she may serve as a Municipal Judge for any other municipality.
6.
He/she may not hold any other office within the City Government.
7.
The Municipal Judge shall be considered holding a part-time
position and as such may accept other employment.
The Municipal Court of the City shall be subject to the rules
of the Circuit Court of which it is a part and to the rules of the
State Supreme Court. The Municipal Court shall be subject to the general
administrative authority of the Presiding Judge of the Circuit Court,
and the Judge and Court personnel of said Court shall obey his/her
directives.
The Municipal Judge shall cause the Court Clerk to prepare,
within the first ten (10) days of every month, a report indicating
the following:
A list of all cases heard or tried before the Judge during the
preceding month, giving in each case the name of the defendant, the
fine imposed if any, the amount of costs, the names of defendants
committed, and the cases in which there was an application for trial
de novo, respectively. The Court Clerk or the Judge shall verify such
lists and statements by affidavit and shall file the same with the
City Clerk who shall lay the same before the Board of Aldermen of
the City for examination at its first (1st) session thereafter. The
Municipal Court shall, within the ten (10) days after the first (1st)
of the month, pay to the Municipal Treasurer the full amount of all
fines collected during the preceding month, if not previously paid
to the Municipal Treasurer.
The Municipal Judge shall be a conservator of the peace. He/she
shall keep a docket in which he/she shall enter every case commenced
before him/her and the proceedings therein and he/she shall keep such
other records as may be required. Such docket and records shall be
records of the Circuit Court of Dade County. The Municipal Judge shall
deliver said docket, records and all books and papers pertaining to
his/her office to his/her successor in office or to the Presiding
Judge of the Circuit.
A.
The
Municipal Judge shall be and is hereby authorized to:
1.
Establish a Violations Bureau as provided for in the Missouri
Rules of Practice and Procedure in Municipal and Traffic Courts and
Section 479.050, RSMo.
2.
Administer oaths and enforce due obedience to all orders, rules
and judgments made by him/her and may fine and imprison for contempt
committed before him/her while holding Court in the same manner and
to the same extent as a Circuit Judge.
3.
Stay execution of any fine or sentence, suspend any fine or
sentence, and make such other orders as the Municipal Judge deems
necessary relative to any matter that may be pending in the Municipal
Court.
4.
Make and adopt such rules of practice and procedure as are necessary
to implement and carry out the provisions of this Chapter, and to
make and adopt such rules of practice and procedure as are necessary
to hear and decide matters pending before the Municipal Court, and
to implement and carry out the provisions of the Missouri Rules of
Practice and Procedure in Municipal and Traffic Courts.
5.
The Municipal Judge shall have such other powers, duties and
privileges as are or may be prescribed by the laws of this State,
this Code or other ordinances of this City.
[Ord. No. 3-2008, 2-5-2008]
A.
The Municipal Judge shall and is hereby authorized to set and implement
a schedule of minimum fines for certain offenses punishable under
the ordinances of the City of Greenfield, Missouri.
B.
Except for offenses for which an appearance in Court is required
by the Municipal Judge, upon the entry of a plea of guilty before
the Clerk of the Municipal Court, the Clerk shall collect the amount
of fine and court costs set forth in the schedule of minimum fines.
C.
Fines and costs collected by the Clerk of the Municipal Court shall
be paid over to the Municipal Treasurer as provided in Section 479.050,
RSMo.
The Municipal Judge for the City of Greenfield shall be paid
a sum as fixed by ordinance from time to time.
All prosecutions for the violation of municipal ordinances shall
be instituted by information and may be based upon a complaint. Proceedings
shall be in accordance with the Supreme Court rules governing practice
and procedure in proceedings before Municipal Judges.
Should the Municipal Judge determine that there shall be a Violations
Bureau, the City shall provide all expenses incident to the operation
of the same.
All warrants issued by a Municipal Judge shall be directed to
the Chief of Police or any other Police Officer of the municipality
or to the Sheriff of the County. The warrants shall be executed by
the Chief of Police, Police Officer or Sheriff at any place within
the limits of the County and not elsewhere, unless the warrants are
endorsed in the manner provided for warrants in criminal cases and,
when so endorsed, shall be served in other Counties as provided for
in warrants in criminal cases.
The Chief of Police or other Police Officer of the City may,
without a warrant, make arrest of any person who commits an offense
in his/her presence, but such officer shall, before the trial, file
a written complaint with the Judge hearing violations of municipal
ordinances.
Any person charged with a violation of a municipal ordinance
of this City shall be entitled to a trial by jury as in prosecutions
for misdemeanors before an Associate Circuit Court Judge. Whenever
a defendant accused of a violation of a municipal ordinance has a
right to and demands such trial by jury, the Municipal Court shall
certify the case to the Presiding Judge of the Circuit Court for reassignment.
It shall be the duty of an attorney designated by the City to
prosecute the violations of the City's ordinances before the
Municipal Judge or before any Circuit Judge hearing violations of
the City's ordinances. The salary or fees of the attorney and
his/her necessary expenses incurred in such prosecutions shall be
paid by the City. The compensation of such attorney shall not be contingent
upon the number of cases tried, the number of guilty verdicts reached,
or the amount of fines imposed or collected.
It shall be the duty of the Municipal Judge to summon all persons
whose testimony may be deemed essential as witnesses at the trial
and to enforce their attendance by attachment, if necessary. The fees
of witnesses shall be the same as those fixed for witnesses in trials
before Associate Circuit Court Judges and shall be taxed as other
costs in the case. When a trial shall be continued by a Municipal
Judge, it shall not be necessary to summon any witnesses who may be
present at the continuance, but the Municipal Judge shall orally notify
such witnesses as either party may require to attend before him/her
on the day set for trial to testify in the case and enter the names
of such witnesses on his/her docket, which oral notice shall be valid
as a summons.
If, in the progress of any trial before the Municipal Judge,
it shall appear to the Judge that the accused ought to be put upon
trial for an offense against the criminal laws of the State and not
cognizable before him/her as Municipal Judge, he/she shall immediately
stop all further proceedings before him/her as Municipal Judge and
cause the complaint to be made before some Associate Circuit Court
Judge of the County.
If, in the opinion of the Municipal Judge, the City has no suitable
and safe place of confinement, the Municipal Judge may commit the
defendant to the County Jail, and it shall be the duty of the Sheriff,
if space for the prisoner is available in the County Jail, upon receipt
of a warrant of commitment from the Judge to receive and safely keep
such prisoner until discharged by due process of law. The municipality
shall pay the board of such prisoner at the same rate as may now or
hereafter be allowed by law to such Sheriff for the keeping of other
prisoners in his/her custody. The same shall be taxed as cost.
A.
Any Judge hearing violations of municipal ordinances may, when in
his/her judgment it may seem advisable, grant a parole or probation
to any person who shall plead guilty or who shall be convicted after
a trial before such Judge. When a person is placed on probation, he/she
shall be given a certificate explicitly stating the conditions on
which he/she is being released.
B.
In addition to such other authority as exists to order conditions
of probation, the Court may order conditions which the Court believes
will serve to compensate the victim of the crime, any dependent of
the victim, or society in general. Such conditions may include, but
need not be limited to:
C.
A person may refuse probation conditioned on the performance of free
work. If he/she does so, the Court shall decide the extent or duration
of sentence or other disposition to be imposed and render judgment
accordingly. Any County, City, person, organization or agency or employee
of a County, City, organization or agency charged with the supervision
of such free work or who benefits from its performance shall be immune
from any suit by the person placed on parole or probation or any person
deriving a cause of action from him/her if such cause of action arises
from such supervision of performance, except for intentional torts
or gross negligence. The services performed by the probationer or
parolee shall not be deemed employment within the meaning of the provisions
of Chapter 288, RSMo.
D.
The Court may modify or enlarge the conditions of probation at any
time prior to the expiration or termination of the probation term.
In any case tried before the Municipal Judge, except where there
has been a plea of guilty or where the case has been tried with a
jury, the defendant shall have a right of trial de novo before a Circuit
Court Judge or upon assignment before an Associate Circuit Court Judge.
An application for a trial de novo shall be filed within ten (10)
days after judgment and shall be filed in such form and perfected
in such manner as provided by Supreme Court rule.
In any case tried with a jury before an Associate Circuit Judge,
a record of the proceedings shall be made, and appeals may be had
upon that record to the appropriate Appellate Court.
In the case of a breach of any recognizance entered into before
a Municipal Judge or an Associate Circuit Court Judge hearing a municipal
ordinance violation case, the same shall be deemed forfeited and the
Judge shall cause the same to be prosecuted against the principal
and surety, or either of them, in the name of the municipality as
plaintiff. Such action shall be prosecuted before a Circuit Court
Judge or Associate Circuit Court Judge, and in the event of cases
caused to be prosecuted by a Municipal Judge, such shall be on the
transcript of the proceedings before the Municipal Judge. All monies
recovered in such actions shall be paid over to Municipal Treasury
to the General Revenue Fund of the municipality.
A Municipal Judge shall be disqualified to hear any case in
which he/she is in any way interested or, if before the trial is commenced,
the defendant or the prosecutor files an affidavit that the defendant
or the municipality, as the case may be, cannot have a fair and impartial
trial by reason of the interest or prejudice of the Judge. Neither
the defendant nor the municipality shall be entitled to file more
than one (1) affidavit or disqualification in the same case.
If a Municipal Judge be absent, sick or disqualified from acting
pursuant to the general administrative authority of the Presiding
Judge of the Circuit Court over the Municipal Divisions within the
Circuit contained in Section 478.240, RSMo., a special Municipal Judge
may be designated in accordance with the provisions of Section 479.230,
RSMo., until such absence or disqualification shall cease.
A.
A person commits the offense of failure to appear in Municipal Court
if:
1.
He/she has been issued a summons for a violation of any ordinance
of the City of Greenfield and fails to appear before the Judge of
the Municipal Court at the time and on the date on which he/she was
summoned, or at the time or on the date to which the case was continued;
2.
He/she has been released upon recognition of bond and fails
to appear before the Judge of the Municipal Court at the time and
on the date on which he/she was summoned, or at the time or on the
date to which the case was continued;
3.
He/she has been placed on Court supervised probation and fails
to appear before the Judge of the Municipal Court at the time specified
by said Judge as a condition of the probation.
B.
Nothing in this Section shall prevent the exercise of the Municipal
Court of its power to punish for contempt.
[R.O. 2006 § 135.100]
The Board of Aldermen may elect to have the violations of its
municipal ordinances heard and determined by an Associate Circuit
Judge of the Circuit in the County in which the City is located. If
the Board of Aldermen elect not to appoint a Municipal Judge or fail
to appoint a Municipal Judge, municipal ordinance cases shall be heard
and determined by the Associate Circuit Judge of Dade County, Missouri.
