BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – A Bexar County court-at-law judge appeared in court for a Friday hearing related to two charges stemming from a December 2024 incident inside her courtroom.
Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez, who currently presides over Bexar County’s Court at Law No. 13, is accused of having an attorney handcuffed and kept in the jury box.
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According to Bexar County court records, Speedlin Gonzalez, 61, has been charged with unlawful restraint by a judicial officer, a felony, and misdemeanor official oppression, January indictment records obtained by KSAT Investigates show.
KSAT Investigates first reported on the December 2024 incident on Jan. 14. Speedlin Gonzalez was indicted and turned herself in on Jan. 29.
While Speedlin Gonzalez appeared inside Bexar County’s 379th Criminal District Court on Friday, Judge Ron Rangel recused himself and will not be presiding over the case. Instead, the case was assigned to retired Judge Oscar Hale Jr., who spent nearly two decades as a district judge in Laredo, Texas, before leaving the post in December 2024.
On Friday, Speedlin Gonzalez’s attorney, the special prosecutor and Hale discussed a matter within Hale’s chambers. While it was unclear what was discussed, prosecutors later told KSAT Investigates that Speedlin Gonzalez will return to court in June.
Since Speedlin Gonzalez’s arrest, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct (SCJC) suspended her without pay.
The suspension order states Speedlin Gonzalez’s suspension will remain in effect until the charges are dismissed, she is acquitted of all charges or until the commission issues another order.
In March, Speedlin Gonzalez lost her reelection bid in the Democratic primary to challenger to Alicia Perez.
Bexar County Court at Law No. 13 is home to the Reflejo Court, a trauma-informed treatment program designed to help first-time domestic violence offenders address the root causes of their behavior in lieu of jail time.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.