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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1978-27 - Establishment of Municipal Court as Part of 6th Judicial CircuitBILL NO. '~.~ .~i ORDINANCE NO . ~~~ ",< AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING THE CITY MUNICIPAL COURT AS A DIVISION OF THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE, MISSOURI, AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Statutes of this State require as of January 1, 1979, that the City elect to continue or dis- continue the Municipal Court and the City of Riverside desires to continue said Municipal Court. SECTION 2. The following provisions among the ordinances of the City of Riverside, Missouri, are hereby repealed: Section 2.2, only subsection 11 thereof; Section 2.12, only subsection 2 thereof; and Section 2.14. SECTION 3. The "Riverside, Missouri, Ordinance Code", being Ordinance,j5~~,!/ of the City of Riverside is amended by the adoption of new provisions to be known as Chapter 4 of the Ordinance Code of the City, to read as follows: CHAPTER 4 -- MUNICIPAL COURT 4.1 Court established. There is hereby established in this City a Municipal Court, to be known as the "Riverside Municipal Court, a Division of the 6th Judicial Circuit Court of the State of Missouri. This Court is a continuation of the Municipal Court of the City as previously established, and is termed herein "the municipal court". 4.2 Jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of the Municipal Court shall extend to all cases involving alleged violations of the Ordinances of the City. 4.3 Selection of Judge. The Judge of the City's Muni- cipal Court shall be known as a Municipal Judge of the 6th Judicial Circuit Court, and shall be selected as follows: 1. He shall be elected to his position by the qualified voters of this City, for a term as specified herein. 4.4 Term of office. The Municipal Judge shall hold his office for a period of two (2) years. If for any reason a Municipal Judge vacates his office, his successor shall complete that term of office, even if the same be for less than two years. 4.5 Vacation of office. The Municipal Judge shall vacate his office under the following circumstances: 1. Upon removal from office by the State Commission on the Retirement, Removal and Discipline of Judges, as pro- vided in Missouri Supreme Court Rule 12, or 2. Upon attaining his 75th birthday, or 3. In the event the Punicipal Judge is not a lawyer then his office shall be deemed vacated should he fail, within 6 months of his selection, to satisfactorily complete a course of instruction for Municipal Judge as prescribed by the State Supreme Court. In the event the Municipal Judge is a lawyer, then said lawyer should lose his license to practice law within the State of Missouri or be suspended from the practice of law within the State of Missouri. 4.6 Qualifications for office. The Municipal Judge shall possess the fol owing qua ifications before he shall take office: 1. He must reside within the City. 2. He must be a resident of the State of Missouri. 3. He must be between the ages of 21 and 75 years. 4. If not a licensed attorney, he must, within six months after his selection to the position, satisfactorily complete a course of instruction for Municipal Judges as prescribed by the State Supreme Court. 5. The Municipal Judge shall be considered holding a part-time position, and as such may accept (within the requirements of the Code of Judicial Conduct, Missouri Supreme Court Rule 2) other employment. 4.7 Superintending authority. 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 directives. 4.8 Report to Board of Aldermen. The Municipal Judge shall cause to be prepared within the first ten days of every month a report indicating the following: A list of all cases heard and tried before the Court during the preceding month, giving in each case the name of the defendant, the fine imposed if any, the amount of cost, the names of the defendants committed and in the cases where there was an applic- ation for trial de novo, respectively. The same shall be prepared under oath by the Municipal Court Clerk or the Municipal Judge: This report will be filed with the City Clerk, who shall thereafter forward the same to the Board of Aldermen of the City for examination at its first session thereafter. The Municipal Court shall, within the ten days after the first of the month, pay to the Municipal Treasurer the full amount of all fines collected during the preceding months, if they have not previously been paid. 4.9 Docket and court records. The Municipal Judge shall be a conservator o t e peace. He shall keep a docket in which he shall enter every case commenced before him and the proceedings therein and he shall keep such other records as may be required. Such docket and records shall be records of the Circuit Court of Platte County. The Municipal Judge shall deliver the docket and records of the Municipal Court, and all books and papers pertaining to his office, to his successor in office or to the preceding Judge of the Circuit. 4.10 Municipal Judge; powers and duties generally. The Municipal Judge shall be and is here y authorized to: 1. Establish a Traffic Violations Bureau as provided for in the Missouri Rules of Practice and Procedure in Municipal and Traffic Courts and Section 479.050 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri. 2. Administer oaths and enforce due obedience to all orders, rules and judgments made by him, and may fine and imprison for contempt committed before him while holding Court, in the same manner and to the same extent as a Circuit Judge. 3. Commute the term of any sentence, 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, or State Statutes. 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. 4.11 Traffic violations bureau. Should the Municipal Judge determine that there shall be a Traffic Violations Bureau, the City shall provide all expenses incident to the operation of the same. The Municipal Clerk is hereby designated as the Traffic Violations Clerk for said bureau, if established. 4.12 Issuance and execution of warrants. All warrants issued by a Municipa 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 warrant shall be executed by the Marshal, Chief of Police, Police Officer, or Sheriff 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. 4.13 Arrests without warrants. The City Marshal, Chief of Police, or of er po ice o icer of the City may, without a warrant, make arrest of any person who commits an offense in his presence, but such officer shall, before the trial file a written complaint with the Judge hearing violations of Municipal ordinances. 4.14 Jury trials. 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 Judge. Whenever a defendant accused of a violation of a Municipal ordinance demands trial by jury, the Municipal Court shall certify the case to the Presiding Judge of the Circuit Court for reassignment, as provided in Section 2 of Section 517.520, Revised Statutes of Missouri. 4.15 Duties of the City's prosecuting attorney. It shall be the duty of the City Attorney or Assistant City Attorney when request- ed by the Municipal Judge, City Police Chief or Mayor to prosecute the violations of the City's ordinances before the Municipal Judge -nd before any Circuit Judge hearing violations of the City's ordinanc~._. 4.16 Summoning of witnesses. 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 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 on the day set for trial to testify in the case, and enter the names of such witnesses on his docket, which oral notice shall be valid as a summons. 4.17 Transfer of complaint to Associate Circuit Judge. If, in the progress of any trial efore a 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 as Municipal Judge, he shall immediately stop all further proceedings before him as Municipal Judge and cause the complaint to be made before some Associate Circuit Judge within the County. 4.18 Jailing of defendants. 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 not or hereafter be allowed to such Sheriff for the keeping of such prisoner in his custody. The same shall be taxed as costs. 4.19 Parole and probation. Any Judge hearing violations of Municipa or finances may, when in his 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 said Judge. - 4.20 Right of appeal. In the event the Municipal Judge is a lawyer then in all cases tried before the Municipal Court, 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 Judge or on assignment before an Associate Circuit Judge. In the event that the Municipal Judge is not a lawyer, the defendant shall have a right to trial de novo, even from a plea of guilty, before the Circuit Judge or Associate Circuit Judge. Such application for trial de novo shall be filed within ten days after judgment and shall be in a form as provided by the Supreme Court Rules. 4.21 A peal from jury verdicts. in all cases in which a jury trial has been deman ed, a record of the proceedings shall be made, and appeals may be had upon that record to the appro- priate appellant court. 4.22 Breach of recognizance. In the case of a breach of any recognizance entere into efore a Municipal Judge or an Associate Circuit 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 Judge or Associate Circuit 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 re- covered in such actions shall be paid over to the Municipal treasury to the general revenue fund of the municipality. 4.23 Disqualification of Municipal Judge from hearing particular case. A Municip~Judge shalt be aisquali=ECU to ear any case in which he is 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 affidavit or disqualification in the same case. 4.24 Temporar Municipal Judge. If a Municipal Judge be absent, sick or disqualifie from acting, the Mayor may design- ate some competent, eligible person to act as Municipal Judge until such absense or disqualification shall cease; provided, however, that should a vacancy occur in the office of an elected Municipal Judge more than six months before a general municipal election, then a special election shall be held to fill such vacancy; and in case of vacancy in the office of an elected Municipal Judge within less than six months of a general Municipal election, the office may be filled by a competent, eligible person designated by the Mayor. Nothing in this section shall prohibit application and assignment of Special Judge by the Missouri Supreme Court. The Board of Aldermen shall provide by ordinance for the compensation of any person designated to act as Municipal Judge under the provisions of this section. 4.25 Clerk of the municipal court. The City Municipal Court Clerk is hereby esignated as Clerk of the Municipal Court. The duties of said clerk shall be as follows: 1. To collect such fines for violations of such offenses as may be described, and the court costs thereof. 2. To take oaths and affirmations. 3. To accept signed complaints, and allow the same to be signed and sworn to or affirmed. 4. Sign and issue subpoenas requiring the attendance of witnesses and sign and issue subpoenas duces tecum. 'J 5. Perform all other duties as provided for by ordinance, by rules of practice and procedure adopted by the municipal judge and by the Missouri Rules of Practice and Procedure in Municipal and Traffic Courts and by statute. 6. Maintain, properly certified by the city clerk, a complete ccpy of the ordinances of the city of the municipality which shall constitute prima facia evidence of such ordinance before the court. 7. To keep a record of all cases filed and the disposition thereof. 8. To promptly process all appeals. 9. To certify to the Department of Revenue the record of conviction for all moving traffic violations. 4.26 Court costs. In addition to any fine that may be imposed by the municipal judge there shall be assessed as costs in all cases the following: 1. Costs of court in the amount of $12.00. APPROVED THIS ~.~ DAY OF /~~-~.r;?L~c(~~~'. 197 ~.. MAYOR 2. Other costs, such as for the issuance of a warrant, a commitment, or a summons, as provided before the Associate Circuit Judge in criminal prosecutions. 3. Actual costs assessed against the city by the county sheriff for apprehension or confinement in the county jail. 4. Mileage, in the same amount as provided to the sheriff in criminal violations, for each mile and fraction thereof the officer must travel (both directions) in order to serve any warrant or commitment or order of this court. 4.27 Same, assess a ainst prosecuting witness. The costs of any action may a assesse against t e prosecuting witness and judgment be rendered against him that he pay the same and stand committed until paid in any case where it appear to the satisfaction of the municipal judge that the prosecution was commenced without probable cause and from malicious motives. 4.28 Installment payment of fine. when a fine is assessed for violating an ordinance, it should be within the discretion of the judge assessing the fine to provide for the payment of a fine on an installment basis under such terms and conditions as he may deem appropriate. 1979. SECTION 4. This ordinance shall take effect January 1, i PASSED THIS ~ DAY OF , -,~ ~., 197_. MAYOR ATTEST: / ~~~ ~,4C~i~h ~, CITY CL K