Good for him for keeping his word, but it's going to cost him in the end. This guy does NOT want to be in jail. I'm wondering if this act just ended a prosecution of an actual criminal though.
If the judge insisted on having the information, there was likely a reason for that...perhaps the 'tipster' was a cop himself? Perhaps it was impossible that the 'tipster' actually had the information they gave? I can think of many reasons why the 'tip' needed to be investigated, especially if it was the reason for a warrant or other police actions.
For example...in the 70's, a family member was arrested for marijuana cultivation in Texas based on a 'tip'. It turned out the tipster was a neighbor that had no real knowledge of the grow, only assumption, but the cops were so stupid they didn't get a warrant and my family member was released. If they had not been able to investigate the 'tipster', the BS the cops claimed, that they were allowed to enter the property because of (well, I can't recall the actual reason they gave, I was only about 7, but they gave one that was BS) may have been believed...only the record of the actual 'tip' proved them to be bold faced liars in court.

Crime Stopper has Tip for Lunch has been added as a related post - related requested by pumkinandstorm on that post.

Yep, those cops you described in your story were fucking imbeciles and the D.A. and judge who let it fly were assholes. Following-up on anonymous tips involves (or should, and the story you described continues to played-out daily across the United States ) substantiation of anonymous tips through legal processes and investigation in accordance with the constitutional rights of citizens. Otherwise the end result is a society of slaves to a fascist, authoritarian regime.

It is unfortunate that a member your family was inconvenienced, wrongfully jailed, and subject to such an obvious violation of their rights under the constitution of both the state of Texas and the U.S.

Understand your rights and fight the bullshit is the message here.

Moving this video to pumkinandstorm's personal queue. It failed to receive enough votes to get sifted up to the front page within 2 days.