There is hereby established in the City of Vinita Park a Municipal
Court to be known as the "Vinita Park Municipal Court, a Division
of the 21st 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.
The Judge of the City's Municipal Court shall be known as a
Municipal Judge of the 21st 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 Board of Aldermen for a term as specified herein.
The Municipal Judge shall hold his/her office for a period of
at least two (2) years. If for any reason a Municipal Judge vacates
his/her office, his/her successor shall complete that term of office,
even if the same be for less than two (2) years.
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 Finance Officer the full amount of all fines
collected during the preceding month, if not previously paid to the
Finance Officer.
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 St. Louis 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.
[CC 2000 §1-8-4(D, l, d, e — k); CC 1974 §§15-10,
15-26]
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. Any and all
rules made or adopted hereunder may be annulled or amended by an ordinance
limited to such purpose; provided, that such ordinance does not violate
or conflict with 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.
6.
Suspend the imposition of sentence.
7.
Temporarily or permanently stay execution of all or part of any sentence
or fine.
8.
Waive all or part of the Court costs assessed in a case.
9.
Grant probation for up to one (1) year.
10.
Attach conditions to defendant's conduct and behavior in connection
with probation, stay of execution of sentence or suspension of the
imposition of sentence.
11.
Make use of a public or private probation program of his/her choice
for referral of defendants for any of the following purposes: to make
recommendations for sentencing after conducting a background investigation
of the defendant, to enroll the defendant in a counseling program
or short-term educational program appropriate to the offense for which
the defendant has been charged, to supervise defendants placed on
probation by the Court and for such other purposes as the Municipal
Judge may direct.
12.
Hold persons in contempt for their actions or conduct while Court
is in session in the same manner and to the same extent as the Circuit
Court and punish such contempt with a fine of up to one hundred dollars
($100.00) and imprisonment of up to thirty (30) days.
The Municipal Judge for the City of Vinita Park 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.
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.
[CC 2000 §1-8-10(C); Ord. No. 1000 §§1 — 3, 4-10-2000]
A.
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.
B.
Time Of Filing.
1.
Any appeal taken from a judgment in the Municipal Court of Vinita
Park shall be filed with the municipality within ten (10) calendar
days of the entry of the judgment. For purposes of counting ten (10)
calendar days, the first (1st) day shall be the day after the judgment
is entered. If the tenth (10th) day falls on a weekend or holiday,
it shall be the following workday that the appeal must be filed.
2.
In addition to the notice of appeal which shall be filed, appellant
shall be required at the time of filing the notice of appeal to have
a cashier's check, money order or check made payable to the St. Louis
County Circuit Court in the amount of the applicable appeal cost.
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.
