A Texas judge is now on the other side of the bench. Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez has been indicted on charges of unlawful restraint by a judicial officer and misdemeanor official oppression, stemming from a 2024 courtroom incident involving defense attorney Elizabeth Russell.
According to reports, Russell was representing a client at a hearing on a motion to revoke probation. After the defendant pleaded “true” to one allegation, Russell asked for a moment to confer with her client, and that request set Speedlin Gonzalez off. The judge shut that down immediately, telling Russell that attorneys are not allowed to “coach” their clients. When Russell objected after the judge moved forward with the plea, things got worse… fast.
“Stop. It’s on the record. Your argumentative ways are not going to work today,” Speedlin Gonzalez said, according to the transcript. “Stop, or I’ll hold you in contempt, Ms. Russell. I will hold you in contempt.” The judge accused Russell of arguing “just for the sake of argument” before ordering deputies to take her into custody. “Take her into custody and put her in the box,” the judge said.
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Speedlin Gonzalez then went further, chastising Russell in language that reads super personal. “You will not run around these courtrooms, especially [courtroom] 13, and think that you can just conduct yourself in the way you’ve been conducting yourself for at least the last six years,” the judge said. Russell corrected her that she had only been licensed for five years. Which, I mean… sure, but sometime discretion is the better part of valor.
The indictment landed just two weeks after a KSAT Investigates report laid out a pattern of alleged behavior from the judge, painting a picture of a courtroom increasingly governed by volatility. Especially as Speedlin Gonzalez’s courtroom is a Reflejo Court, a trauma-informed treatment program designed to help offenders address the root causes of their behavior. Cynthia Garcia, a former group facilitator who provided therapy to participants in Reflejo Court, told KSAT that Speedlin Gonzalez’s demeanor changed dramatically in recent years. “She began lashing out at defendants in court,” Garcia said. “I couldn’t believe some of the things that were being put on the record.”
Garcia described multiple problematic incidents. In one Reflejo docket appearance, a female defendant who experienced a pregnancy scare was allegedly told by Speedlin Gonzalez to invest in batteries. “And get basically a vibrator. Less trouble. And that is what blew my mind the first time,” said Garcia. That’s advice you expect to get in the group chat, not in a courtroom. In another incident, Garcia said an 18-year-old participant who was homeless and living in a group setting, was berated in open court after staff found sexual content on his phone. The judge allegedly called him a “f—ing poser,” leaving the young man visibly shaken. “It was ugly,” Garcia said. “It was ugly.”
Crystal Ochoa, a former complex care manager for the Center for Health Care Services (CHCS), said, “The behavior she gave was aggressive, when it did not need to be. It became very like ‘No, this is what I’m saying. I’m the judge. I’m going to do this, whether you all like it or not. It just was not appropriate, especially it being a trauma-informed type of setting.”
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Both Garcia and Ochoa say the judge’s influence and/or fear of retaliation from the judge led to their departures from their respective organizations.
Speedlin Gonzalez told KSAT, “At this time, I will not be disclosing information regarding any individual or non profit vendor involved. Out of respect for process, privacy, and the integrity of our partnerships, it is important that we allow the appropriate systems to function without speculation or distraction.”
On Thursday, Speedlin Gonzalez turned herself in and appeared in court for an initial appearance where the judge’s bond was set at $20,000.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].