Hoychick cites faith as city judge

Eunice City Judge Terry Hoychick says the biggest change in his court was ending Monday evening court, but he also says his faith guides him.
“We meet on Monday mornings not Monday nights,” he said Thursday at the Eunice Kiwanis Club meeting. “That is one of the absolute first decisions that had to be made.”
Hoychick became city judge in January.
“In the campaign everybody had resolved that Monday night court was a dinosaur that needed to die and it did,” he said.
There are 55 to 60 criminal misdemeanor cases heard in city court each week, he said in explaining the court’s operation.
Hoychick said 90 to 95 percent of the people facing charges in court admit their guilt.
Some of the people in court face problems such as addiction, he said.
“They are stealing something or acting crazy because they are intoxicated,” he said.
“I knew there were people who are just caught in this cycle of not knowing there is a different way to live life,” he said.
But it isn’t the law alone that Hoychick says guides him.
“You can follow the law and it is a good way to live life,” he said. “There are moral principles to live by whether you believe with God or not. If you live by these principles, ‘Doing to others as you want them to do to you,’ it is a much better way to live life.”
Hoychick said he gives people an option of community service, but he takes that another step by allowing community service credits for attending church.
“I want them in church,” he said. “I want them hearing the gospel. When they go to your church, when they go to Mass, they get four hours credit for every Mass they attend.”
Hoychick said there is nothing wrong with professional help in the secular world, however, “I believe, my personal belief, is that if you’ve got Christ at the center of any of this professional help it is going to be a whole lot better than what you get without it.”
People are given an option, he said. “That has been the real difference we are trying to make through the community service.”
Hoychick said his “big vision” is to provide a place staffed by volunteers to counsel people sentenced in city court.
Hoychick also urged the public to be aware city court can handle civil cases up to a maximum of $25,000 and small claims up to $3,000.
“There are a lot of things that are being filed in district court that cost more, take longer, that could be done here,” he said.
“You file in here in city court, you might get a trial next month, next week,” he said.
“It’s a way of you getting your business done quickly, efficiently.”