Former Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez has plenty of supporters in Bexar County and San Antonio. And we understand why. She is smart, authentic, a hard worker and outspoken.
But during her nearly eight years as a judge presiding over family violence cases in Bexar County Court-at-Law 13, Speedlin Gonzalez lost her way. She lost sight of what it means to maintain judicial temperament, to treat all parties with respect, to cast all biases aside and to maintain fidelity to the rule of law.
It all fell apart for Speedlin Gonzalez this year once criminal charges were filed against her for placing a defense attorney in handcuffs during a hearing in December 2024.
The indictment in January upended Speedlin Gonzalez’s bid for reelection. Voters roundly rejected her, opting for Alicia Perez, an immigration lawyer and former public defender and prosecutor, in the Democratic primary. Meanwhile, the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct suspended Speedlin Gonzalez without pay as she faced criminal charges.
Now the case is closed, so to speak, with Speedlin Gonzalez agreeing with the judicial conduct commission on April 20 to a lifetime ban from serving as a judge in Texas.
A special prosecutor also filed a motion to drop charges of unlawful restraint by a peace officer, a felony, and official oppression, a misdemeanor. There was no point in a prosecution, he said.
And we agree. This is a just outcome for a now former public official who, for whatever reason, never showed she respected the power of the elected office the public entrusted her with.
Whether that lack of understanding was criminal is a point of debate — it may depend on whether you were unfairly placed in handcuffs — but it was disqualifying. And voters, and now the state, have ensured it remains so.