Cross Roads Podcast
Cross Roads Podcast
From Courtroom to Community: Vince Handler's Vision for Precinct 5
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What happens when you get a traffic ticket in a rural area, need to evict a non-paying tenant, or find yourself in a dispute over a home renovation gone wrong? The Justice of the Peace court might be your destination, yet many residents don't understand this crucial part of our legal system.
In this revealing conversation, Steven Killfoil sits down with Vince Handler, candidate for Justice of the Peace in Precinct 5 of Denton County, to unpack the surprising scope and significance of this "neighborhood court." Handler, a 20-year Air Force veteran and experienced attorney, explains how these courts handle everything from small claims lawsuits up to $20,000 to eviction proceedings and criminal matters that don't involve jail time.
The discussion takes us beyond the basics as Handler shares his vision for transforming the role from a mere adjudicator to a true community resource. Unlike many judges who are rarely seen outside the courtroom, Handler describes plans to bring legal education to high school students, conduct mock court sessions, and provide regular updates to local governments about trends affecting the community.
Covering the unique challenges of Precinct 5—which spans the entire northern half of Denton County and encompasses both rural areas and rapidly growing communities—Handler outlines his three guiding principles: fairness, upholding the law, and increasing efficiency. He addresses the concerning backlog of cases that can leave citizens waiting months or even years for resolution and offers concrete strategies for improvement.
Perhaps most surprising is the revelation that Texas doesn't require Justices of the Peace to have legal training—a provision dating back to 1876 when rural counties often lacked licensed attorneys. Handler contrasts this minimal requirement with his own extensive legal background and explains why proper judicial experience matters for fair and effective outcomes.
Whether you're a longtime resident or new to the area, this conversation offers valuable insights into a court system that statistically, you're more likely to encounter than any other. Join us for this enlightening discussion about justice at its most accessible level and discover why Handler views this position as "not just a job, but a calling."
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Crossroads.
Steven Killfoil:Podcast.
Steven Killfoil:We'll be right back, but those who want to be in the know. Who's your daddy? Good morning Crossroads. Hello everybody and welcome to Community Conversations. I'm your host, stephen Kilfoyle. Today we're sitting down with someone who's stepping forward to serve the people of Denton County County. My guest is Vince Handler, candidate for Justice of the Peace in Precinct 5, which covers Crossroads, Texas. We'll talk about what the role of a Justice of the Peace actually is, how it impacts our community and what Vince hopes to accomplish if elected. Vince, thank you for joining me today.
Vince Handler:Thank you, steve, I really appreciate it.
Steven Killfoil:It's great to be here with you. Well, I'm glad you come on the show. So let's start out with the basics. So a lot of folks hear this term justice of the peace but may not fully understand what the position actually entails. So, vance, could you explain what the roles and responsibilities of a Justice of the Peace are?
Vince Handler:Sure, in fact this is very common. When I felt the calling to run to be elected as Justice of the Peace, I started asking questions of the community, my neighbors and friends do you even know what Justice of the Peace does? And a lot of them had some preconceptions. What I realized early on? That I had a big role to play in educating the voters. And so, to answer your question, the Justice of the Peace in Texas is actually it's the first level court in the whole system. Justice of the Peace is your local neighborhood court and the constitution, the whole system. Justice of the Peace is your local neighborhood court and the constitution and some laws give Justice of the Peace certain jurisdiction. In Denton County we have six Justice of the Peace divided up into geographic areas. Justice of the Peace, precinct 5, the current judge, judge Mike Oglesby. He's actually retiring at the end of his current term and he had called me up a couple of years ago and encouraged me to run and to get elected. But geographically this just of the piece covers the entire northern half of Denton County up to the Cook County line and east to west, from Wise County line over to Collin County line and jurisdiction wise.
Vince Handler:This court handles small claims, such as lawsuits that are involving damages in the amount of $20,000 or less, such as lawsuits that are involving damages in the amount of $20,000 or less. So in that you've got a lot of breach of contract, some debt claims. If you get sued and the amount that you're being sued for is $20,000 or less, good chance you're going to be in Justice Peace Court. Or if you want to sue somebody who, like a contractor who didn't do something right on your house, and if the value is $20,000 or less, it's going to be Justice Peace Court. So that's one of them.
Vince Handler:Justice of the Peace Court is the exclusive jurisdiction for all evictions. If you're a landlord or you own an apartment complex, in order to evict a tenant who is violating the lease or not even paying the rent, it must go through the Justice of the Peace Courts. There's like over 200 criminal laws that fall under the Justice of the Peace Court jurisdiction, 200 criminal laws that fall under the Justice of the Peace Court jurisdiction, including traffic tickets, anything that would be a non-criminal excuse me, a matter that would not end up being jail time. If it doesn't involve jail time, then it would fall into the Justice of the Peace Court. So it's going to be traffic tickets, it could be dangerous animal, it could be animal abuse. Justice of the Peace Court also has jurisdiction over truancy or parental contribution to truancy. So to make sure that these students are getting to class and getting their education. If that becomes a problem then the school district can bring them before Just the Peace and handle it that way.
Steven Killfoil:Oh yeah, and on the nice side of things, Justices of the Peace are also able to perform marriages.
Vince Handler:And that is what a lot of people will say. First is that, oh, just the peace does marriages. Well, yes, any judge can actually do that. It's common to hear that just the peace might do marriages as well. It's actually just a side gig, if you can call it that a side gig, that just the peace can do, and some of them do that, but other judges can do that as well. It's just commonly known that justice of the peace do also do marriages.
Steven Killfoil:Yeah, when I brought Madalina over from Romania back in 2006, it was a justice of the peace who performed our first union because we were kind of poor and couldn't afford to do a church wedding. We had to wait a couple of years before we got the wedding, church wedding but it was nice. He was a great guy down in Corpus Christi in Nueces County.
Vince Handler:Yeah, in fact, Justice of the Peace does not have jurisdiction over family law. So, yes, a Justice of the Peace could marry you, but they would not be able to help get involved in a lawsuit involving a divorce.
Steven Killfoil:Right, yeah, that's a whole other court.
Vince Handler:That's right.
Steven Killfoil:okay. Well, so in many ways, the Justice of the Peace is the most direct form of the court system that touches everyday people's lives.
Vince Handler:That's correct.
Vince Handler:It's the lowest, it's the first level of court in the system and it's also the highest volume. It's also the highest volume. So statistically, our community has a statistically higher chance of being in a Justice to the Peace Court for a lawsuit than they would have in any other higher courts. The family law courts, of course, will handle family law matters. The criminal courts that involve jail time will handle those, but Justice to the Peace Court is definitely the highest volume. There is literally thousands of cases that go through. Justice to the Peace Corps is definitely the highest volume. There is literally thousands of cases that go through just the Peace Corps. And one of the things managing that caseload is definitely a factor that some prior judges have had an issue with as well.
Steven Killfoil:Oh yeah. Well, I remember when we first moved here there was a law enforcement officer who was notorious for ticket writing and he was good at it and he was justified 100 percent and it wouldn't matter anything. My father is a retired policeman, so I have total respect for all law enforcement officers. But I got tickled. I'd go to some of these uh meetings with the chamber of commerce and I'd hear these ladies complaining well, this officer wrote me a ticket again and I was like again. And they said, yeah, this particular officer boy, he sits there in the parking lot and he just waits. And I'm like, well, they broke the law, he has every right to cite him a ticket. And she says, well, you're not very sympathetic. And I said, no, I'm not. If you break the law, I said what do you want him to do? Spank you on the wrist and tell you bye? No, I said, if that sign clearly says do not turn left onto highway 380, don't do it. And if you do it, then well, expect to get that ticket absolutely yeah, it was funny.
Steven Killfoil:I bet the previous judge would probably tell you, yeah, when that officer was writing tickets. It was a lion's share of court complaints that I got, but hey, they were justified, every single one of them.
Vince Handler:And some of these tickets. If it's written by a municipal police department it might go through that municipal court. But northern Denton County has a lot of unincorporated areas. So if DPS writes a ticket or if the sheriff's department writes a ticket, they're gonna have to go through Justice of the Peace court yeah, yeah, it's, wow, it's amazing.
Steven Killfoil:So let's get a little more specific. If you're elected, what will your duties look like here in Cross Roads and Precinct 5.?
Vince Handler:So the court is physically located in Cross Roads but, as I mentioned, it covers the northern half of Denton County, south to about University. If you look at a map, that's essentially the cutoff, except it does go a little bit further south into Oak Point and portions of Little Elm, but it does cover a lot of area and therefore, therefore, you've got a mix of a dense population but you also have a lot of rural population, and so you're going to have a lot of different types of cases that go through the justice of the peace court, specifically in precinct five. So the role of the judge is to actually let me say this what I will be doing as judge if the Lord blesses me with being elected number one is be fair and impartial Whatever comes before me as a just of the peace. I owe it to our neighbors, I owe it to our community to take a look at the facts of the case and determine what is the proper outcome. And that leads into my second tenet. My priority is to uphold the law. A good judge will take the law and apply it to the facts of the case, and each case can be a little bit different. So, whatever the facts of that case are as a judge, take a look at the law and apply it to the facts and then make a decision. The last thing, the last of my three priorities there are other priorities as well, but the last of my three main priorities is to increase the court's efficiency.
Vince Handler:There's so many cases going in and out of that court and there have been opportunities to increase the efficiency. Nobody wants their case to just lag there and stay there for sometimes a year or two years. Some of these cases just sit there and a good judge will manage that docket to get people people's cases resolved as fast as possible. If we can resolve it in less than a month, let's resolve it in less than a month. We shouldn't have these cases sitting out there for a year or more. So those are the three things that a judge is expected to do, and I'll be bringing a lot of my previous career as an attorney understanding how to do that efficiently, and I've had other jobs in the past.
Vince Handler:I was a 20-year Air Force veteran. There's a lot of things I've learned as far as getting the mission done, doing an efficiency, finding the, doging, the office, because not only is there a judge there but there's a staff behind him of five or six clerks and they have to be properly trained and be able to give good customer service to anybody who has a court case in that court. So finding the efficiencies there, increasing the efficiency, so they would help out our community if they find themselves in just the Peace Court, definitely.
Steven Killfoil:Well, besides the obvious, you're having a large mixture of heavily populated and rural area. What makes Precinct 5 unique compared to other areas of Denton County?
Vince Handler:The caseload, the types of cases that the other precincts see are going to depend on their population. For example, justice Peace Precinct 3 in Louisville, because that is more heavily populated, especially with apartment complexes, a higher crime level than you would see in northern part of the county, their caseload is going to be a little bit different. All the Justice of the Peace in Denton County handle the same types of cases but in Justice of the Peace, precinct 5, you're going to have a little bit more traffic tickets because the DPS and the sheriffs are more active in that part of the unincorporated areas of the county. But that doesn't mean that you don't have a lot of the other types of cases as well. As the population grows because, yes, there's rural parts of the county around Sanger and Pilot Point and Crossroads and Aubrey.
Vince Handler:You have rural parts but you also have a lot of growth and some of this growth is including apartment complexes and these apartment complexes will sometimes have tenants that are not paying rent and the only avenue that they have to be able to address a non-paying tenant is to go through the Justice of the Peace Court.
Vince Handler:So as these apartment complexes get built we're starting to see the evictions. More evictions get filed in Justice of the Peace Court, precinct 5. We're seeing more debt claims get filed in Justice of the Peace Precinct 5, especially when, after COVID, we saw a spike in people not being able to pay credit card bills, for example. So some of it's going to depend on the economy, but we are actually seeing a very big increase in the amount of cases that Justice Peace Precinct 5 is. So basically, to answer your question, precinct 5 is just catching up with the other precincts because of the population growth. But there's still a lot of the rural area that deals with abuse of animals. If somebody is found out to be abusing the horses on the ranch, that's going to go through just the Peace Corps.
Steven Killfoil:So there, are definitely some things that straddle both sides of a rural area, plus a very populous area as well. Yeah, definitely, you have an unusual mixture in District 5, clearly.
Vince Handler:Exactly.
Steven Killfoil:It's amazing. So, vince, when people run for office, it's not just about the job description, right, it's also about personal goals and priorities. What are some of yours if you become the Justice of the Peace?
Vince Handler:Justice of the Peace is to be elected, you do have to win the primary for your party before you go into the general election. So for considering party politics, I am a conservative, I'm a Republican, and what that does is it forms the foundation of how I think, how I view the separation between the executive branch such as the police officers writing a ticket versus the judicial branch. How does a judge apply the law? And so my conservative thinking is what forms how I'm going to apply the law? Follow the law, apply the law to the facts, the case to come up with a proper decision. Now, once I'm a judge, there is no politics, but, just like my faith in God forms a foundation of how I think, being a judge I have to apply the law. Regardless of what I might think of the law as a conservative, regardless of what I might think of myself as a God-fearing individual, I have to apply the law, and that's key to a conservative way of thinking is to apply the law as it was written by a legislature. The judges have no business in what commonly is termed legislating from the bench. Judges have to apply the law and if you want the law changed, if you don't like the law. We have to talk with our legislatures and lobby them to actually change the law our legislatures and lobby them to actually change the law. Some of the eviction laws were just recently changed because there needed some cleaning. Some of the laws allowed squatters and it was very difficult for some of these people who own houses but they couldn't get the person in their house out of it, so that had to go to legislature Before the legislature changed the law. In fact I think it just took effect September 1st. Before the legislature changed the law, it was difficult for the police to do certain things, to at least be able to pull people out of the house because there was no lease to enforce. And then the judges are like well, if there's no lease, how can I apply the law? And so all this stuff is intertwined. But each person has a role. The legislature has a role, the judges have a role. So being able to find the solution that's best under the law for the community, that's the role of the judge.
Vince Handler:Some of my other personal goals and priorities would be to, as I stated before, find the efficiencies in the court, be able to reduce the time. I don't know the details of how the current court's backlog is. I'm hearing that there is some backlog, but that could be for a reason, a variety of reasons. But one of the things I can bring to the table, if elected as just the piece, is to find efficiencies and to be able to improve how cases are handled, how cases are scheduled to be on the docket.
Vince Handler:Some of these cases keep on getting pushed down the road because somebody's not ready, somebody's not ready, and so there's only a certain limit that judges should be able to give somebody to get ready for their case. If they filed their lawsuit, they should be ready to go, and if they're not ready to go, you know why. Have a judge figure that out with litig, go. And if they're not ready to go, you know why. Have a judge figure that out with litigants and then. But there's a certain point to where you have to say you know, enough's enough. If you're not ready to have this lawsuit, then we dismiss the case. But that's all going to depend on each individual case, so some form of accountability.
Vince Handler:So, yeah, there's some accountability involved when it comes to following the rules, because there are rules in Justice Peace Corps. What's kind of unique about Justice Peace Corps in Texas is that there are certain rules that don't apply as they would apply in higher level courts. The rules of evidence are usually not a factor, and that would. That allows the judge to be able to talk with the litigants in a more conversational matter. There is no court reporter jotting down every word, so you can have a conversation and kind of figure out what's the best solution. Some of the rules that do apply in just the peace court one of them mandates the judge to kind of help develop the case, and what that means is that if there is a litigant in there that doesn't have the means to afford an attorney, well, this is the people's court, this is your neighborhood court, this is what it's designed to be is for somebody to be able to go in there at a low cost, without an attorney, and get a resolution to whatever lawsuit that they find themselves in. And if these are not attorneys, they may not know the law very well, and it's up to the judge, who knows the law very well, to be able to fish out what facts need to be discussed. And if a good judge that knows the law is seeing that there's a piece of information that they need to know in order to be able to make a good decision, that judge is required to help them not help them win or lose their case, but help them develop their case a little bit and ask the proper questions.
Vince Handler:One of the things that I see frustrating, especially with judges that are just with pieces, that are not licensed attorneys, is that they may have some basic training that the state of Texas does if you get elected. It's like two weeks of training for somebody who's not a lawyer. That's all the training that they get, and then January 1st they're on the bench handling evictions and cases worth up to $20,000. And that's kind of scary. And so most people understand that yeah, you don't have to be a judge and that might be surprising to some people you don't have to be a lawyer to be a just the peace in Texas.
Vince Handler:And the reasoning behind that is back in 1876, when they were developing the Texas Constitution, they put in the requirement that if you want to be just a piece, you just have to be elected. They didn't put a requirement in there that you had to be a licensed attorney. The thinking back then was we have some rural counties with hardly anybody in them and there may not be a licensed attorney in that county. And if you had to have a licensed attorney be a judge to handle your $200 case that somebody stole from your general store, you'd have to wait a couple days for a judge from a neighboring county to get on his horse to come out and have that court hearing.
Steven Killfoil:Yeah, and that was a lot longer than rush hour traffic today, absolutely.
Vince Handler:So times have changed right and so now people expect their judges to be lawyers, and when they find out that their judge is not a lawyer, it's kind of surprising and it's scary. Now, luckily, we have had a couple of good non-lawyer JPs in Denton County, but they didn't start off that way, necessarily knowing everything they need to know. I come as a finish pack. I've had 15,000, I think now of cases in Justice of the Peace Courts. I've got the experience to be able to say you know what? There's a piece of information missing here that the judge needs to ask the other side, otherwise they won't be able to make a good decision. So having that conversation, knowing the law, knowing the law very, very well, is what makes a good judge, definitely.
Steven Killfoil:Well, one of the things people want to know is how will you be involved in the community outside of the courtroom?
Vince Handler:That's a very good question, and some of the people who apply to actually run for and campaign for getting elected as just the piece, they're just looking for a job. A lot of times it's retirees that say, hey, you don't need a law degree, well, let me go be a JP, and they see that as a good opportunity to have a job for four years, which is how long the term is. When I was called by the current judge and asked to consider running for just the piece, first thing I did was I went back to my wife and I told her about it and we started praying is this an opportunity that God is opening up for us? And I've been talking with a lot of the other judges that I'm commonly in front of, telling him that there's an opportunity where the current judge is going to be retiring, and they've all encouraged me to do it. They see me as somebody who would do a really good job as a judge. So I know that I can do a good job as a judge. I've got the experience, I've got the legal background, I've got the discipline, the efficiency to run a good court. But that's not what I think is the limit of what God's calling me to do. I feel like God is calling me to become a really good judge for the community. And then there's a lot more, and what I mean by that is I feel I'm being called to use the role of Adjust to the Peace as a segue into giving back to the community in ways that to some point I've already been doing, but to supercharge it.
Vince Handler:One of the ways I can give back to the community is to take the role of a judge and, for example, routinely go into the high schools and talk to the seniors, take over a class and say you know what. You guys are going to be graduating soon, going off to college, you might be entering into a lease contract. Let me teach you what a lease contract is about and the laws that apply to the lease contract that you're going to be signing your name to. Not very many people, not very many of our students, are being taught that as they go off to college, you're going to be signing your name on a contract. How does that affect you? How does it affect your rights? And be able to go in and give that sort of education, be able to have the students come into the courtroom and not just on a field trip to say, hey, this is what a court looks like. But to be more involved in like, how do we handle, how does the legal system work, and have moot court, have made up controversies for the students to work out and see how the system protects their rights and how their system can help them effectuate their rights when they find themselves in sort of a lawsuit.
Vince Handler:Most of the judges that I've been in front of, I see them in court, but I don't see them anywhere else.
Vince Handler:I want to be a judge that wants to go out back into the community routinely and give what I would term as state of the court you hear it, as state of the union.
Vince Handler:You know, just say, hey, this is what we've been doing. And so, as a judge, I want to be able to come back to, for example, the Crossroads Council and be able to say, hey, you know what, I've been a judge for six months. This is our backlog or lack of backlog or whatever the current situation is, and this is what we're doing about it. This is the trends that we're seeing in the court being able to go to the town council meetings, the city council meetings, the school boards when they have to deal with truancy issues. Hey, this is what I'm seeing as a judge. This is the program that I'm going to implement to kind of help everybody in their piece of what they're interested in, and so I see myself giving back to the community in ways that will be innovative and put Just the Peace Precinct 5 in Denton County on the map for other justice pieces to emulate Peace.
Steven Killfoil:Precinct 5 in Denton County on the map for other justice of the peace's to emulate. Yeah, so you see the justice of the peace not just as a legal role but as a community anchor.
Vince Handler:It's a calling to do something for the community.
Steven Killfoil:It's not just a job, it's a calling. I agree, I agree that's amazing. Well, Vince, I want to thank you so much for joining me today. It's been a great conversation, and I know our listeners in Denton County will appreciate hearing your thoughts on the Justice of the Peace role. But before we wrap up, where can people learn more about your campaign and get in touch with you? And get in touch with you.
Vince Handler:Absolutely so. The my website is handler for judgecom. H a, n, d, l E R F O R judge, j U D G, ecom. Handler for judgecom. And you find out a little bit more about my family, about my background as a 20 year air force veteran, my law enforcement background I was a special agent for a while and did major criminal investigations A little bit about my faith and a lot about my community service and also my legal background, where I went to law school at Baylor.
Vince Handler:It's an awesome law school, very prestigious law school in Texas, and that's where I get a lot of my education for being able to operate in a courtroom that's extremely efficient, very thorough. So handlerforjudgecom is one location. In addition, I do have a campaign launch reception that I'm holding on September 23rd. That's actually going to be held in Aubrey from 530 to 730 at Equine Instincts. Held in Aubrey from 530 to 730 at Equine Instincts. That is a art gallery that recently opened up on Main Street 216 South Main Street and all the listeners are welcome to come. Some free food and drink, be able to get to know a little bit about me, meet me in person and then mingle and have a good time.
Steven Killfoil:Great, all right, and to our listeners out there, thank you for tuning in to Community Conversations. Now for a few quick announcements. Remember to go to Amazon and get your copy of Stefan McDermott's book Achieve Optimal Brain Health with Nutrition a really powerful and simple to follow guide on improving your brain health. Christmas is just 101 days away, and now for a commercial announcement from our man from the North Pole, the Santa Steven. He's coming soon.
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