BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – A clogged toilet brought a murder trial to an unexpected halt at the Bexar County Justice Center after water flooded a courtroom last week.
According to county officials, inmates stuffed a toilet and caused water to pour through ceiling light fixtures. The water spilled into two courtrooms below — the 399th Criminal District Court and the County Court at Law No. 2.
Judge Frank Castro, the presiding judge of Bexar County’s 399th Criminal District Court, was in court for a murder trial when the flooding began.
“It destroyed our carpet and our ceiling in our entryway, and that kind of put us on hold for what we were going to do with the jury trial,” Castro said.
With no available courtrooms inside the Bexar County Justice Center, court staff, jurors and attorneys were forced to move the trial to the Bexar County Courthouse next door — inside a room typically used for Commissioners Court meetings.
A trial had not taken place in that court in nearly 60 years.
“Some of the microphones echoed, and jurors said they had trouble hearing,” Castro said. “We all had to play with that — the attorneys, staff, everyone — to make it work.”
This was not the first time flooding has been reported at the Justice Center. Photos shared with KSAT show a similar incident in 2023 when a hallway and offices on the third floor were damaged by water.
“If you go back 20 years, it’s had a plumbing problem,” said County Court at Law Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez, who added that there are often unpleasant smells in parts of the building.
Gonzalez said she dismissed her staff early Friday because the odor from the flooding below her courtroom was overwhelming.
A county spokesperson told KSAT in a text message that plumbing issues such as clogged toilets and backed-up drains are “unusual” at the Bexar County Justice Center.
However, officials have not yet provided information on the cost of the recent damage or how the repairs are paid for.
Repairs to Castro’s courtroom were nearly complete as of Tuesday. The space is expected to reopen on Wednesday.
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