There is hereby established in the City of Ste. Genevieve a
Municipal Court to be known as the "Ste. Genevieve Municipal Court,
a Division of the 24th 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".
The jurisdiction of the Municipal Court shall extend to all
cases involving alleged violations of the ordinances of the City.
[CC 1985 §§7-21 — 7-22; Comp. Ords. §17.01(2)(C)
— (D); Ord. No. 4179, 10-11-2018]
There is hereby created the office of Municipal Judge. The Municipal
Judge shall be appointed by the Mayor, by and with the advice and
consent of the Board of Aldermen, for a term of two (2) years. 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 less than two (2) years.
[CC 1985 §7-23; Comp. Ords. §17.01(2)(F); Ord. No. 4179, 10-11-2018]
A.
The
Municipal Judge shall possess the following qualifications before
he or she shall take office:
1.
He or she shall be a licensed attorney qualified to practice law
within the State;
2.
He or she must be a resident of the State;
3.
He or she must be at least twenty-one (21) years of age and may not
serve after reaching his or her seventy-fifth (75th) birthday;
4.
He or she may not serve as a Municipal Judge for more than five (5)
municipalities at one (1) time;
5.
He or she may not hold any other office within the City Government;
6.
He or she shall be considered holding a part-time position and as
such may accept, within requirements of the Code of Judicial Conduct,
Supreme Court Rule No. 2, other employment.
[CC 1985 §7-24; Comp. Ords. §17.01(2)(E)]
[CC 1985 §7-25]
The compensation of the Municipal Judge and all other Municipal
Court personnel shall not be dependent in any way upon the number
of cases tried, the number of guilty verdicts reached or the amount
of fines imposed or collected.
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.
[CC 1985 §7-3; Comp. Ords. §17.01(2)(G)]
The Municipal Court 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
authorities of the Presiding Judge of the Circuit Court and the Judge
and Court personnel of the Municipal 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 Ste. Genevieve 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.
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.
[CC 1985 §7-5; Comp. Ords. §17.01(2)(K); Ord. No. 2895 §2, 2-27-1997]
Should the Municipal Judge determine that there shall be a Violations
Bureau, the City shall provide all expenses incident to the operation
thereof. The Municipal Court Clerk is hereby designated as a Violations
Clerk for the Bureau as established.
All warrants issued by a Municipal Judge shall be directed to
the City Marshal, 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 Marshal, 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 City Marshal, 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.
[CC 1985 §7-48; Comp. Ords. §17.01(2)(O)]
It shall be the duty of an attorney designated by the City to
prosecute the violations of this Code and other City ordinances before
the Municipal Judge or before any Circuit Judge hearing violations
thereof. The salary or fees of the attorney and his/her necessary
expenses incurred in any such prosecution shall be paid by the City.
The compensation of such attorney shall not be contingent upon the
result in any case.
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 Ste. Genevieve 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.
