(A) The duly elected and qualified or qualified and acting Justice of the Peace of Precinct No. 1 of Union County, New Mexico, is hereby designated as the Justice of the Peace who shall have jurisdiction of all violations of the ordinances of the Board of Trustees of the town, except in cases in which he or she may be interested or otherwise disqualified.
(Am. Ord. 39, passed 3-3-1909)
(B) The Justice of the Peace shall, before proceeding to try any person for the violation of any ordinance of the town, cause complaint to be made and warrant issued to arrest the person, and return to be made on the warrant.
(C) All cases tried before the Justice of the Peace shall be docketed in the name of the Town of Clayton against the defendant, and the Justice of the Peace shall enter on the docket in a plain intelligible manner a minute of each step in the case, and of all particular costs assessed in same.
(D) Judgment shall be entered in each and every case of guilty or not guilty of the offenses charged, and by that judgment the defendant shall be discharged, fined or imprisoned, or fined and imprisoned, as the case may be, and where defendant is found guilty, the costs of the case shall be assessed against him or her and no cost shall be assessed otherwise; and all judgments imposing a fine, except where fine and imprisonment are both imposed, shall be in the alternative of imprisonment for a specified number of days or until the fine and costs are paid, in default of immediate payment of the fine and costs.
(E) Where the judgment of “guilty” shall be entered in any case before him or her, the Justice of the Peace shall issue a commitment against the person or defendant, commanding the Police Chief of the town, in default of immediate payment of the fine and costs as may have been assessed, to commit the defendant to the town jail or the county jail to labor in accordance with the terms of the judgment and the ordinances of the town.
(F) Whenever, in accordance with the laws of the State of New Mexico, the defendant in any case may be entitled to an appeal, the same shall be allowed in accordance therewith by filing a bond with 2 sufficient securities in double the amount of the highest penalty that could or might be assessed in that case; provided, that the appeal shall not operate as a supersedeas in the case until the bond shall have been given and approved, and no cost shall be demanded as a condition of the appeal or the approval of the appeal bond.
(H) In all cases where the fee is not herein provided, the Justice of the Peace shall be entitled to demand and receive the fees as now allowed Justices of the Peace under the laws of New Mexico.
(I) The Justice of the Peace, before proceeding with the trial of any case, shall notify the Attorney of the town and shall not try any case wherein the Town of Clayton is interested without the presence of the Attorney.
(Ord. 4, passed 6-3-1908)