A Mississippi judge must pay $5,400 for improperly intervening in a landlord-tenant dispute by encouraging the property owner to seek the maximum penalty and evict a woman whose rent check bounced.

The Mississippi Supreme Court publicly reprimanded Montgomery County Justice Court Judge Keith Stokes Roberts and ordered him to pay a $3,000 fine and $2,400 in court costs. The justices said he effectively lawyered from the bench and didn’t give the tenant a chance to fight his decision.