Rosie Speedlin-Gonzalez Removed

Bexar County Court at Law No. 13 Judge Rosie Speedlin-Gonzalez ordered a deputy to handcuff a defense attorney and place her in the jury box during a December 2024 hearing — because the attorney tried to correct her own client's inadvertent guilty plea. Speedlin-Gonzalez was indicted on criminal charges over it, and ultimately resigned under an agreement permanently barring her from ever serving as a judge in Texas again.

During a December 17, 2024 domestic violence case hearing, attorney Elizabeth Russell realized her client had entered a guilty plea by mistake and tried to correct it. Speedlin-Gonzalez ordered a deputy to handcuff Russell and place her in the jury box. Russell later said the judge never held her in contempt — the formal, appealable process a judge is supposed to use in a courtroom dispute like this — before having her physically restrained instead.

The Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct suspended Speedlin-Gonzalez without pay over the incident. In January 2025, prosecutors indicted her on charges of official oppression and unlawful restraint. She lost her bid for re-election in the March 2026 primary. In April 2026, she resigned under a negotiated agreement: the criminal charges against her were dismissed, and in exchange she accepted a permanent, lifetime ban from ever serving as a judge in Texas again.