The man had already pled not guilty, been tried before a jury of his peers and found guilty which takes option 1 and option 3 off the table.
In Texas, there is no provision for a mitigation hearing other than appealing the fine to a higher court and that is only available if there was judicial error. The legal fees for that would be far more than the fine and difficult to prove.
This is far from the first time someone has paid, or attempted to pay, a fine in coins. As a teenager there was "common wisdom" you could do that as a protest. However the Texas legislature passed a law that says the courts do not have to accept coins in payment of a fine. I suspect the clerk
- was unaware of the law that allows them to refuse payment in coin (it does not come up that often) or
- chose to accept the payment rather than starting something with a scofflaw who was obviously spoiling for a fight.
On the other hand the judge does have the option of refusing the payment and issuing an arrest warrant for contempt of c court and/or non-payment The Collin County jail is not a place I would like to spend the night, much less 30 days.
