[1]
State Law Reference: As to certain violations concerning an
accused with special needs, § 479.040, RSMo.
There is hereby established in the City of Marshall a Municipal
Court to be known as the "Marshall Municipal Court, a Division of
the 15th Judicial Circuit Court of the State of Missouri." In the
event a Police Court existed prior to the establishment of a Municipal
Court, this Court is a continuation of the Police Court of the City
as previously established and is termed herein "The Municipal Court."
Violations of municipal ordinances shall be heard and determined
only before divisions of the Circuit Court as hereinafter provided
in this Chapter. The term "heard and determined," for purposes of
this Chapter, shall mean any process under which the Court in question
retains the final authority to make factual determinations pertaining
to allegations of a municipal ordinance violation.
The Judge of the City's Municipal Court shall be known as a
Municipal Judge of the 15th Judicial Circuit Court and shall be selected
by appointment to the position by the Mayor with approval of a majority
of the members of the City Council for a term as specified herein.
[Ord. No. 8341 § 2(b), 1-3-2017]
The Municipal Judge shall hold his or her office for a period
of two (2) years or until his or her successor is duly elected or
appointed and qualified, whichever occurs later. If for any reason
a Municipal Judge vacates his or her office, his or her successor
shall complete that term of office, even if the same be for less than
two (2) years.
[CC 1985 § 10-17]
The Municipal Judge shall receive such compensation for his
services as is or may be fixed by ordinance or resolution of the City
council.
A.
The Municipal Judge shall vacate his/her office under the following
conditions:
1.
Upon removal from office by the State Commission on
the Retirement, Removal and Discipline of Judges as provided in Missouri
Supreme Court Rule 12;
2.
Upon attaining his/her 75th birthday; or
3.
If he/she should lose his/her license to practice
law within the State of Missouri.
4.
Upon removal from office by the Mayor, with the
consent of a majority of the City Council; or
[Ord. No. 8341 § 2(d)(4), 1-3-2017]
5.
Upon removal from office by a two-thirds (2/3)
vote of all members of the City Council, independent of the Mayor's
approval or recommendation.
[Ord. No. 8341 § 2(d)(5), 1-3-2017]
[Ord. No. 8341 § 2(c), 1-3-2017]
A.
The Municipal Judge shall possess the following qualifications
before he or she shall take office:
1.
He or she must be a licensed attorney, qualified
to practice law within the State of Missouri;
2.
He or she need not reside within the City;
3.
He or she must be resident of the State of Missouri;
4.
He or she must be between the ages of twenty-one
(21) and seventy-five (75) years;
5.
He or she may serve as Municipal Judge for other
municipalities, except no Municipal Judge shall serve as a Municipal
Judge in more than five (5) municipalities at one (1) time;
6.
He or she may not hold any other office within
the City government;
7.
The Municipal Judge shall be considered as holding
a part-time position and as such may accept other employment;
8.
He or she must be a registered voter in the State
of Missouri; and
9.
He or she must not be at the time of his or her
appointment in arrears for any unpaid city taxes, or forfeiture or
defalcation in office.
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 City Council of the City
for examination at its first session thereafter. The Municipal Court
shall, within the ten (10) days after the first 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 Saline 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.
B.
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.
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 shall,
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.
A.
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.
B.
For purposes of this Section, any offense involving the
operation of a motor vehicle in an intoxicated condition as defined
in Section 577.001, RSMo., shall not be cognizable in Municipal Court,
if the defendant has been convicted, found guilty, or pled guilty
to two (2) or more previous intoxication-related traffic offenses
as defined in Section 577.001, RSMo., or has had two (2) or more previous
alcohol-related enforcement contacts as defined in Section 302.525,
RSMo.
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 the Municipal Judge or Provisional 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 Marshall 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.
No additional charge shall be issued for the failure to appear
for a minor traffic violation.
