𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐆𝐁𝐓 𝐉𝐔𝐃𝐆𝐄 𝐀𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐀 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐍

 

 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐆𝐁𝐓 𝐉𝐔𝐃𝐆𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐄𝐗𝐀𝐒 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐀 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐍 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐇 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀 𝐃𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐄 𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐂𝐔𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐃 𝐌𝐈𝐃-𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆. 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐄 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐋𝐈𝐍-𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐙𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐙 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐃 𝟐𝟎 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐘 𝐔𝐍𝐋𝐀𝐖𝐅𝐔𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓. 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐒 𝐃𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐐𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍.

Bexar County’s first openly LGBT judge, 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧-𝐆𝐨𝐧𝐳𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐳 — a darling of the Texas Democratic Party — has just signed away her career in exchange for not going to prison.

 

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭: During a hearing, Speedlin-Gonzalez accused defense attorney Jodi Soyars of 𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚. Soyars denied it. Judge ordered her into custody 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭.

 

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨: Defense attorney 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐜𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐱 for the duration of the hearing — until she “𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺.”

 

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞:

— Felony 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 charges — up to 20 years

— Felony 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐚𝐰 — up to 10 years

— Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct opened a formal misconduct investigation

— The Texas State Bar opened a parallel ethics investigation

 

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲:

— 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐃𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃

— 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐬

— She can 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 — as long as she does not wear a robe or refer to herself as a former judge

 

𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧-𝐆𝐨𝐧𝐳𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐳 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐬-𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞 ‘𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞’ 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎. She was supposed to be the new face of “𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘺” on the bench. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐜𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞.

𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐧 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞. 𝐓𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐜𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲, 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 — 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲.

 

From: 

M.A. Rothman