A judge from Bexar County, Texas, has been charged with handcuffing a lawyer and meddling with an ongoing hearing. The judge, 60-year-old Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez, had gotten into an altercation with attorney Elizabeth Russell during a court session.
Gonzalez allegedly did not like how Russell interacted with her client and interrupted the pleas. She kept questioning her methods before ordering her to be physically restrained.
KSAT reports that on the fateful day in December 2024, Russell appeared in court along with her client for the termination of probation. Gonzalez, the Bexar County-Courts at Law judge, seemed to be irritated with her from the get-go.
During the verbal dispute, the judge told Russell clearly that she is “not allowed to be argumentative and argue just for the sake of argument.”
Bexar County Court at Law Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez was indicted Thursday, more than a year after investigators said she had an attorney handcuffed during a dispute in her courtroom.
STORY: https://t.co/sG5vCnG8rv@KSATDillon pic.twitter.com/HoL3aHW30O
— KSAT 12 (@ksatnews) January 29, 2026
When the defendant of the case pleaded “true” to one of the allegations, Russell intervened. She asked the court for some time to carry out important discussions with her client.
A transcript of the courtroom session shows that judge Gonzalez turned down the request of the lawyer at once. She then proceeded to school Russell about maintaining courtroom etiquette, saying lawyers are not allowed to mentor their clients or manipulate what they have to say.
After this heated confrontation, the hearing continued with the pleas. After a while, Russell had to interrupt the court to present her argument, but the judge became impatient with her.
The transcript reads Gonzalez’s following words, “Stop. It’s on the record. Your argumentative ways are not going to work today. Stop. Stop, or I’ll hold you in contempt, Ms. Russell. I will hold you in contempt.”
Instead of calming down, the judge ordered a bailiff to have her tackled and put handcuffs on her. “Take her into custody and put her in the box…We are not having this hearing this way,” she added.
Judge Rosie Speedlin-Gonzalez arrested for unlawful restraint and oppression.https://t.co/IZTQ81PGgb pic.twitter.com/qB1JnZStIK
— FOX SA (@KABBFOX29) January 30, 2026
The judge also mentioned that she had a problem with the way Russell has been comporting herself in her career as an attorney. “You will not run around these courtrooms, especially 13, and think that you can just conduct yourself in the way you’ve been conducting yourself for at least the last six years, Ms. Russell,” the judge shouted.
After being freed from confinement, Russell pressed criminal charges against Gonzalez. Prosecutors accuse her of physical restraint without consent and interfering with the liberty of a lawyer in the court of law. On Thursday, January 29, Gonzalez surrendered, with 379th District Court Judge Ron Rangel taking over the case.
The case was pending for a long time. In October 2025, 24th Judicial District Attorney Brian Cromeens became the special prosecutor. He refuses to comment on the case to the press.
