WEBVTT 00:00:04.809 --> 00:00:07.070 This is Let's Talk About It, the official podcast 00:00:07.070 --> 00:00:10.730 of La Prensa, Texas, hosted by Yvette Teo and 00:00:10.730 --> 00:00:14.349 produced by JMT Studios. This show grows from 00:00:14.349 --> 00:00:17.250 a tradition rooted in culture, memory, and the 00:00:17.250 --> 00:00:20.449 power of community voices. Our history told by 00:00:20.449 --> 00:00:24.210 us in our own words. From city hall to the corner 00:00:24.210 --> 00:00:27.769 store, from policy to personal experience, this 00:00:27.769 --> 00:00:31.089 is where real conversations live. The overlooked. 00:00:31.719 --> 00:00:34.679 The everyday, the resilience, the stories that 00:00:34.679 --> 00:00:38.960 shape who we are. In English, in Espanol, and 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:42.119 always from the heart of our community. Not from 00:00:42.119 --> 00:00:45.539 the sidelines and not from a distance. This is 00:00:45.539 --> 00:00:48.500 the community speaking for itself. Welcome to 00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:51.219 Let's Talk About It. Good morning, good afternoon, 00:00:51.340 --> 00:00:54.299 and good evening wherever you are listening from. 00:00:54.500 --> 00:00:57.799 This is Let's Talk About It, the official podcast 00:00:57.799 --> 00:01:02.759 of La Parenza, Texas, powered by JMT Media. I'm 00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:05.280 your host, Yvette Deo, and today we're bringing 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:08.640 you a conversation that is powerful, inspiring, 00:01:09.140 --> 00:01:13.120 educational, and yes, we're going to have some 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:17.459 fun too. Yeah, maybe. Because informed communities 00:01:17.459 --> 00:01:20.239 build stronger futures. And today we are talking 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:23.640 about justice, redemption, and second chances. 00:01:24.180 --> 00:01:27.099 Today I have my co -host, comedian, community 00:01:27.099 --> 00:01:32.820 voice, and always ready with a punchline. Yes, 00:01:32.820 --> 00:01:35.359 I bring my own applause. Thank you very much. 00:01:35.540 --> 00:01:38.480 And now we are honored to welcome Judge Rosie 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:41.620 Speedling Gonzalez, who's made national headlines 00:01:41.620 --> 00:01:45.120 for her innovation in the courtroom. Our special 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:49.439 guest here today, and Judge, I want to welcome 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:52.560 you here to the studios and being part of Let's 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:55.480 Talk About It. And I'm so glad that you're here 00:01:55.480 --> 00:01:57.500 to talk about it. Well, I'm honored to be here 00:01:57.500 --> 00:02:01.799 with La Prensa. La Prensa and I have a long history 00:02:01.799 --> 00:02:05.200 together. Back in 2005, I think, I was honored 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:07.680 by La Prensa with their Legal Justice Award. 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:10.400 And I'd been out maybe three, four years practicing. 00:02:10.780 --> 00:02:13.939 Tino Duran and his family honored me, along with 00:02:13.939 --> 00:02:16.879 some other community leadership women that night. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:19.340 And that relationship with La Prensa has been 00:02:19.340 --> 00:02:22.979 strong ever since. And you all are the voice, 00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:26.520 la voz de la gente del pueblo. And you shine 00:02:26.520 --> 00:02:28.680 a light on issues that are typically mainstream. 00:02:29.159 --> 00:02:32.259 media outlet won't and um because nobody wants 00:02:32.259 --> 00:02:34.300 to look at the problems in our communities yeah 00:02:34.300 --> 00:02:36.860 or the solutions right correct because if we 00:02:36.860 --> 00:02:38.539 don't talk about them problems we can't adjust 00:02:38.539 --> 00:02:41.919 the solutions um and i know that uh tina was 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:46.069 really big at recognizing women that were doing 00:02:46.069 --> 00:02:48.129 something and making changes. And if you were 00:02:48.129 --> 00:02:50.129 just four years out the door, he saw something 00:02:50.129 --> 00:02:53.169 a long time ago in you. And I saw that instantly 00:02:53.169 --> 00:02:55.750 when I met you. So I think you were with La Prensa 00:02:55.750 --> 00:02:58.810 de San Antonio when we took over with La Prensa, 00:02:58.930 --> 00:03:02.650 Texas, and I got to meet you with the Manguera 00:03:02.650 --> 00:03:04.930 Memories. Yes, yes, the column. The Manguera 00:03:04.930 --> 00:03:08.569 Memories. It was a column that I would write 00:03:08.569 --> 00:03:12.469 for La Prensa on events that took place as a 00:03:12.469 --> 00:03:15.310 child growing up. in south texas okay and so 00:03:15.310 --> 00:03:17.969 the title came from where we congregated as kids 00:03:17.969 --> 00:03:20.229 yeah you know we got thrown outside at the beginning 00:03:20.229 --> 00:03:22.270 of the day during the summer right and today 00:03:22.270 --> 00:03:25.490 you know what if we get hungry or there's that's 00:03:25.490 --> 00:03:30.110 right there's a go stand over there you can play 00:03:30.110 --> 00:03:32.229 with it you can drink it you can cool down with 00:03:32.229 --> 00:03:34.469 it go to the manguera the manguera was the you 00:03:34.469 --> 00:03:37.189 know if you drink the manguera if you drink from 00:03:37.189 --> 00:03:40.740 the manguera on a summer day Forget it. You had, 00:03:40.819 --> 00:03:43.080 like, everything phlegm from third grade was 00:03:43.080 --> 00:03:47.900 taken care of. It was taken. It's like the water 00:03:47.900 --> 00:03:50.180 fountains at the school they had outside. If 00:03:50.180 --> 00:03:52.680 you drank from that, you could survive COVID, 00:03:52.819 --> 00:03:55.080 for real. Sure. You did. The bird flu, for sure. 00:03:55.099 --> 00:03:58.599 Oh, yeah. Absolutely. You were good. Yeah, sure. 00:03:58.699 --> 00:04:02.199 We didn't need filtered water. No. Bottle water. 00:04:02.219 --> 00:04:06.020 Bottle water. ¿Qué es eso? Bottle water. Yeah, 00:04:06.139 --> 00:04:11.080 okay. As we're drinking our bottled water. I'm 00:04:11.080 --> 00:04:15.800 just kidding. So let's jump into this. Gleto, 00:04:15.800 --> 00:04:18.319 I know that we talked a little bit about the 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:21.000 Flejo Court, Gleto and I, and so he had a lot 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:22.879 of questions. Judge, so I'm going to let Gleto 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:25.019 ask you some of this stuff. Okay, absolutely. 00:04:25.579 --> 00:04:28.410 First of all, you know, like what... Let everybody 00:04:28.410 --> 00:04:31.470 know what exactly is reflejo court. So reflejo 00:04:31.470 --> 00:04:34.949 court, if you can imagine a subcourt, a smaller 00:04:34.949 --> 00:04:38.050 portion of the bigger court. The big court is 00:04:38.050 --> 00:04:41.129 Bexar County Court of Law number 13. And number 00:04:41.129 --> 00:04:44.769 13 is one of two designated courts in Bexar County 00:04:44.769 --> 00:04:48.410 that hear almost exclusively family violence 00:04:48.410 --> 00:04:51.870 cases. Those are misdemeanor family violence 00:04:51.870 --> 00:04:53.930 cases. What does that mean, misdemeanor? That 00:04:53.930 --> 00:04:57.579 dictates the range of punishment. So on these 00:04:57.579 --> 00:05:00.459 cases, the most the court can do in the way of 00:05:00.459 --> 00:05:03.019 accountability and punishment is a sentence of 00:05:03.019 --> 00:05:06.139 up to but no more than one year of incarceration 00:05:06.139 --> 00:05:09.300 at the Bexar County Jail. In addition to jail 00:05:09.300 --> 00:05:13.500 time, the court can also fine the defendant up 00:05:13.500 --> 00:05:18.420 to but no more than $4 ,000. And last, if you 00:05:18.420 --> 00:05:20.720 plead guilty or you're convicted of this offense, 00:05:20.980 --> 00:05:23.480 you lose your Second Amendment right to bear 00:05:23.480 --> 00:05:28.639 firearms. I call it the highest of misdemeanor 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:30.240 courts because you have the most to lose with 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:33.439 that firearm being gone. Now, when I first took 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:37.819 the bench in 2019, a retired judge by the name 00:05:37.819 --> 00:05:40.079 of Al Alonso, who had started treatment courts 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:42.019 in Bexar County, said, you need a treatment court 00:05:42.019 --> 00:05:45.540 in 13. Your population has some really high needs 00:05:45.540 --> 00:05:48.839 and they pose a very high risk to the community. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:51.980 And so we looked at the population and we figured 00:05:51.980 --> 00:05:54.759 out that about 85 to 90 percent of the defendants 00:05:54.759 --> 00:05:57.139 that were coming in through those doors were 00:05:57.139 --> 00:05:59.720 coming in either having been arrested under the 00:05:59.720 --> 00:06:03.000 influence of alcohol or another mind altering 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:06.959 substance or. The report that came in about this 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:09.860 alleged incident reported that the person was 00:06:09.860 --> 00:06:12.240 under the influence of alcohol or another substance. 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:16.120 And so out of that universe of defendants, when 00:06:16.120 --> 00:06:19.439 we started talking to folks, almost 100 % of 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:21.740 those defendants were self -disclosing that they 00:06:21.740 --> 00:06:26.040 were adult survivors of childhood trauma. Now, 00:06:26.220 --> 00:06:29.600 I just so happen to have a spouse that's a published 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:33.199 expert on trauma. And addiction. And we took 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:36.420 what Judge Alonso said and we took the model 00:06:36.420 --> 00:06:39.279 of treatment courts. Treatment courts are not 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:41.839 new. They've been around for 25 years around 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:44.480 this country and around the world. The word treatment 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:48.019 means that these courts offer at some level drug 00:06:48.019 --> 00:06:51.639 treatment for the defendant. Okay. Bexar County 00:06:51.639 --> 00:06:54.459 happens to have about 15 of them. We have the 00:06:54.459 --> 00:06:57.319 same number as the Dallas -Fort Worth area. Wow. 00:06:57.319 --> 00:06:59.060 And we have the same number as the Harris County 00:06:59.060 --> 00:07:02.680 area. And so they're called diversion programs 00:07:02.680 --> 00:07:06.480 because they will divert the population that's 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:10.350 involved away from the jail. And will offer mental 00:07:10.350 --> 00:07:13.930 health services, social services, drug treatment, 00:07:14.149 --> 00:07:17.829 whatever it is that they have a need for that's 00:07:17.829 --> 00:07:20.569 going to increase the probability of their success 00:07:20.569 --> 00:07:24.990 and reduce the probability of recidivism or returning 00:07:24.990 --> 00:07:28.370 back into the criminal justice system. And all 00:07:28.370 --> 00:07:31.170 the data that's out there shows that treatment 00:07:31.170 --> 00:07:34.269 courts work a lot better than putting somebody 00:07:34.269 --> 00:07:37.670 at the jail without treatment. And so we knew 00:07:37.670 --> 00:07:41.689 that. There's an overarching umbrella organization 00:07:41.689 --> 00:07:46.189 called All Rise. All Rise provides us our guidance 00:07:46.189 --> 00:07:49.769 on how to put these courts together. So we have 00:07:49.769 --> 00:07:52.410 to follow two things, best practices and the 00:07:52.410 --> 00:07:55.310 10 key components. And they give us a framework 00:07:55.310 --> 00:07:58.110 of how to work drug treatment courts with the 00:07:58.110 --> 00:08:01.970 population. Now, it just so happened that because 00:08:01.970 --> 00:08:04.329 in my court, we're dealing with family violence. 00:08:04.939 --> 00:08:08.620 that automatically deems the defendant upon arrest, 00:08:09.079 --> 00:08:13.019 not even conviction, upon arrest, a quote unquote 00:08:13.019 --> 00:08:18.399 violent offender. Oh, wow. So immediately funds 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:22.519 to help them drop. They plummet downward. There 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:25.000 are very little funds to help a quote unquote 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:28.199 violent offender. No other treatment court. can 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:30.500 treat a violent offender because that puts their 00:08:30.500 --> 00:08:33.820 funding at risk of being cut because you're providing 00:08:33.820 --> 00:08:37.379 services to a violent offender. So we put our 00:08:37.379 --> 00:08:41.740 heads together and we drafted a house bill 3529 00:08:41.740 --> 00:08:45.740 for the 2019 legislative session. We did that 00:08:45.740 --> 00:08:50.100 only after I tried to approach city council and 00:08:50.100 --> 00:08:52.500 commissioners court and let them know that I 00:08:52.500 --> 00:08:54.940 was going to seek a way to try and get this type 00:08:54.940 --> 00:08:58.200 of court established and they were receptive 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:00.860 to the idea. They weren't receptive to helping. 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:03.820 In other words, good idea, bad politics. No one 00:09:03.820 --> 00:09:05.679 wants to help a violent offender, Rosie. Good 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:08.480 luck with it. And so once we wrote the House 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:12.820 bill, we got then state rep Roland Gutierrez 00:09:12.820 --> 00:09:16.139 to sponsor the bill in the House and Senator 00:09:16.139 --> 00:09:18.500 Jose Menendez to sponsor the bill in the Senate. 00:09:19.059 --> 00:09:22.860 And the bill came out of both chambers unanimously. 00:09:23.710 --> 00:09:26.330 It became a bill that got bipartisan support 00:09:26.330 --> 00:09:28.129 because after that it went to the governor's 00:09:28.129 --> 00:09:31.210 desk and Governor Abbott signed the bill into 00:09:31.210 --> 00:09:35.110 law and created reflejo court within the parameters 00:09:35.110 --> 00:09:38.269 of Bexar County Court of Law number 13. And then 00:09:38.269 --> 00:09:41.450 we set the criteria only for first -time offenders 00:09:41.450 --> 00:09:44.629 with a history of substance abuse. So you're 00:09:44.629 --> 00:09:46.649 probably asking, why only first -time offenders? 00:09:46.769 --> 00:09:50.370 Because the science shows that when you first 00:09:50.370 --> 00:09:54.340 come in contact with... the court system as a 00:09:54.340 --> 00:09:57.419 defendant, that's the very time period that you 00:09:57.419 --> 00:10:00.600 are more apt to doing whatever you need to do 00:10:00.600 --> 00:10:03.799 to make it go away. You don't want, in this court, 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:06.679 your in -laws to know that you touched their 00:10:06.679 --> 00:10:09.600 child, of course your spouse, in that way. You 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:11.399 don't want your kids to know that this happened. 00:10:11.700 --> 00:10:13.740 You don't want your neighbors to know. You don't 00:10:13.740 --> 00:10:15.960 want your job to know. You could lose your house 00:10:15.960 --> 00:10:17.639 and you could lose your job. You could lose your 00:10:17.639 --> 00:10:20.500 professional license. So you want it to go away. 00:10:20.889 --> 00:10:23.549 And at that point, we swoop in and we say, we've 00:10:23.549 --> 00:10:26.169 got a solution for you. If you stay with us at 00:10:26.169 --> 00:10:28.730 least a year and you do this five -phase program 00:10:28.730 --> 00:10:32.490 and complete it successfully, the district attorney, 00:10:32.730 --> 00:10:35.230 Joe Gonzalez, and the district clerk, Gloria 00:10:35.230 --> 00:10:37.929 Martinez, have agreed that upon your successful 00:10:37.929 --> 00:10:40.230 completion of this program, your case will not 00:10:40.230 --> 00:10:44.629 only be dismissed, your expungement will be paid 00:10:44.629 --> 00:10:48.169 for and given to you free of charge. So that 00:10:48.169 --> 00:10:51.029 once you leave our program... that's your second 00:10:51.029 --> 00:10:53.470 chance because it goes away. It is erased from 00:10:53.470 --> 00:10:56.289 your record as if it never happened. And you're 00:10:56.289 --> 00:10:58.529 never going to be so blessed again. Yeah. If 00:10:58.529 --> 00:11:01.049 you are deemed a violent offender and it's never 00:11:01.049 --> 00:11:04.429 lifted from you because you screwed up on probation 00:11:04.429 --> 00:11:08.029 or you went to trial and were found guilty, regardless 00:11:08.029 --> 00:11:10.909 of how you got that label in the system, once 00:11:10.909 --> 00:11:13.090 you're deemed a violent offender, it can affect 00:11:13.090 --> 00:11:16.470 your legal parental rights. It can limit where 00:11:16.470 --> 00:11:19.850 you work. It can limit where you live. It can 00:11:19.850 --> 00:11:23.190 exclude you from financial aid in college. It 00:11:23.190 --> 00:11:25.429 can exclude you from getting certain licenses, 00:11:25.690 --> 00:11:29.149 professional licenses. And you can no longer 00:11:29.149 --> 00:11:31.470 protect yourself like every other Texan can. 00:11:31.629 --> 00:11:34.690 You can't have guns. So that's how it affects 00:11:34.690 --> 00:11:36.769 your life for the rest of your life or until 00:11:36.769 --> 00:11:40.110 it's lifted by some mechanism that maybe your 00:11:40.110 --> 00:11:43.750 attorney can figure out. And a blessing, Judge, 00:11:43.889 --> 00:11:45.809 that you do that. So let me ask you this. So 00:11:45.809 --> 00:11:49.899 what is the, maybe more like, the success stories 00:11:49.899 --> 00:11:52.179 and the success rate of people that have gone 00:11:52.179 --> 00:11:55.419 through your court? We've had, I would say, between 00:11:55.419 --> 00:11:57.679 150 and 200 people try to make it through the 00:11:57.679 --> 00:12:02.340 program. Of those, 50 or just under 50 have made 00:12:02.340 --> 00:12:05.179 it through the program, have graduated. I want 00:12:05.179 --> 00:12:09.039 to say 49, maybe one or two off. But only one 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:12.139 out of the total number of graduates, only one 00:12:12.139 --> 00:12:16.659 has reoffended. The program has less than a 3 00:12:16.659 --> 00:12:20.340 % recidivism rate. All the rest of the graduates 00:12:20.340 --> 00:12:24.639 have gone on to lead productive, happy lives 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:27.820 without the trauma that they brought in coming 00:12:27.820 --> 00:12:30.779 into the court. The program is a trauma -centered, 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:34.720 trauma -certified court. It took us two years 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:37.039 to get that certification, and we're the only 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:38.740 trauma -certified court in the whole country. 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:42.879 Nice. Now, they get their trauma taken care of. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:45.720 It's a sobriety program, so they have to get 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:47.940 sober. They don't have to do it cold turkey. 00:12:48.039 --> 00:12:50.399 We provide therapy. We provide medical intervention 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:53.139 opportunities. Everything that can help you get 00:12:53.139 --> 00:12:55.539 sober, we'll give it to you. And it doesn't have 00:12:55.539 --> 00:12:57.700 to take the first time. Many people have to have 00:12:57.700 --> 00:13:00.059 several rounds of treatment, kind of like cancer, 00:13:00.200 --> 00:13:05.059 right? Drug addiction is a disease, and it should 00:13:05.059 --> 00:13:07.360 be treated like cancer. You get treatment for 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:10.659 it. Sometimes you get one round of chemo, and 00:13:10.659 --> 00:13:13.220 it works. Other times, you got to go through 00:13:13.220 --> 00:13:15.779 five rounds of chemo before it works. It's the 00:13:15.779 --> 00:13:17.779 same thing with substance abuse. Some people 00:13:17.779 --> 00:13:20.059 are able to get sober after one round of treatment. 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:23.809 Other people keep going back. And so in our court, 00:13:23.909 --> 00:13:25.830 we don't turn you away. If you're in the program 00:13:25.830 --> 00:13:27.690 and you say, I need treatment, I need residential 00:13:27.690 --> 00:13:29.929 again, judge, we'll send you back to residential 00:13:29.929 --> 00:13:31.830 as many times as we need to, to make sure you 00:13:31.830 --> 00:13:34.649 stay sober. Wow. So they get sobriety treatment, 00:13:34.870 --> 00:13:37.169 drug treatment, they get trauma treatment, they 00:13:37.169 --> 00:13:39.929 get job training opportunities. We set them up 00:13:39.929 --> 00:13:42.669 to get their GED. We set them up with sober housing. 00:13:42.950 --> 00:13:45.429 We assist them in finding apartments. We assist 00:13:45.429 --> 00:13:48.700 them in finding employment. We kind of fill in 00:13:48.700 --> 00:13:50.519 everything they didn't have before they got to 00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:52.320 the court that put them at higher risk of actually 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:54.980 coming into the court. And so we send them off. 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:57.240 They came in with the backpack. We send them 00:13:57.240 --> 00:13:59.059 off with the brand new set of Louis Vuitton bags 00:13:59.059 --> 00:14:01.740 with everything they could possibly want or need 00:14:01.740 --> 00:14:06.419 to succeed in life. Yeah. Wow. And your court 00:14:06.419 --> 00:14:08.580 came up with this. Yes. Me and my wife, Stacy, 00:14:08.740 --> 00:14:11.379 Dr. Stacy Speedland Gonzalez. Wow. And that's 00:14:11.379 --> 00:14:13.679 why there was so much national attention. People 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:18.200 were featured on the New York Times, Washington 00:14:18.200 --> 00:14:22.000 Post. Maybe some other ones picked it up, but 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:25.240 it was the New York Times national headline cover 00:14:25.240 --> 00:14:27.600 that we made in December. I saw it in Washington 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:29.820 Post, actually. I did. I did a little bit of 00:14:29.820 --> 00:14:32.460 research, and I did find the program in the Washington 00:14:32.460 --> 00:14:35.620 Post. You don't even know that. I don't even 00:14:35.620 --> 00:14:38.639 know that. But it's there. And I understand that 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:40.919 it's kind of a footprint that everybody... wanting 00:14:40.919 --> 00:14:44.759 to explore. Definitely. We have people inquiring 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:49.039 about our court from Alaska, New Mexico, all 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:51.659 over the country. There is another similar court, 00:14:51.779 --> 00:14:55.360 we were told, in Ohio, another one in Dade County, 00:14:55.580 --> 00:15:00.750 possibly one in Wisconsin. Our jails are getting 00:15:00.750 --> 00:15:03.289 packed or full. They're overflowing. And so there's 00:15:03.289 --> 00:15:05.250 all these jurisdictions across the country looking 00:15:05.250 --> 00:15:08.009 for different ways to deal with the population 00:15:08.009 --> 00:15:13.309 that may not necessarily be a chronic criminal 00:15:13.309 --> 00:15:16.350 population, but a more acute. You know, it's 00:15:16.350 --> 00:15:19.289 a one time behavior. It was they were drunk. 00:15:19.350 --> 00:15:20.950 They were under the influence of drugs. And if 00:15:20.950 --> 00:15:23.669 we treat the core issue. then they won't repeat 00:15:23.669 --> 00:15:26.529 the behavior. And so that's what they're trying 00:15:26.529 --> 00:15:32.110 to explore. And of course, an approach pulling 00:15:32.110 --> 00:15:35.009 away from what we call punitive or punishment 00:15:35.009 --> 00:15:38.850 measures and pivoting toward redemption and second 00:15:38.850 --> 00:15:41.769 chances. And believing that if we give a man 00:15:41.769 --> 00:15:44.870 a hammer and give him some nails, he can build 00:15:44.870 --> 00:15:47.549 his own house. But if you just build the house, 00:15:47.649 --> 00:15:49.539 you're just going to fill it up with men. right 00:15:49.539 --> 00:15:52.919 not knowing what to do in that house um and it's 00:15:52.919 --> 00:15:55.340 it's a lot more power and impact when you teach 00:15:55.340 --> 00:15:59.340 a man how to live life what drove you to to think 00:15:59.340 --> 00:16:01.480 about doing this because this is a very big step 00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:04.679 just to be able to especially in texas like you 00:16:04.679 --> 00:16:08.769 said it was bad politics uh great idea I think 00:16:08.769 --> 00:16:11.409 when we come to the table, we talk about things, 00:16:11.570 --> 00:16:13.809 we talk about them, but we don't really want 00:16:13.809 --> 00:16:17.230 to be that public about how we feel, especially 00:16:17.230 --> 00:16:20.029 people in leadership roles. And I know that you've 00:16:20.029 --> 00:16:22.950 had, unfortunately, I'm sure this was not easy 00:16:22.950 --> 00:16:26.009 for you to do either. I didn't think about it 00:16:26.009 --> 00:16:30.110 in terms of easy or hard. I thought about it 00:16:30.110 --> 00:16:32.370 in terms of this is what we need, a solution. 00:16:33.100 --> 00:16:36.960 oriented and focused approach. My whole life, 00:16:37.019 --> 00:16:41.200 you know, as a kid, you know, no vengas con tus 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:44.080 chingaderas. In other words, don't come with 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:46.639 the complaints if you don't have a solution. 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:50.700 My whole life. You got a solution? I'll hear 00:16:50.700 --> 00:16:57.159 you. Solutions will hear you. So the point in 00:16:57.159 --> 00:16:59.720 all that is I was conditioned to always, you 00:16:59.720 --> 00:17:01.159 know, you can complain, but you better have a 00:17:01.159 --> 00:17:04.769 solution. Right. So I can tell you that right 00:17:04.769 --> 00:17:08.130 out of college in 1987. I say my wife all the 00:17:08.130 --> 00:17:12.009 time. I already know the complaint. Just tell 00:17:12.009 --> 00:17:13.970 me the solution. There you go. There you go. 00:17:13.990 --> 00:17:18.250 Happy wife, happy life. So right out of college, 00:17:18.549 --> 00:17:20.569 I went to grad school, dropped out of grad school 00:17:20.569 --> 00:17:22.309 in the 80s, you know, because it was more important 00:17:22.309 --> 00:17:25.269 to dance to Madonna at the bottom than to study. 00:17:26.009 --> 00:17:30.250 And that led to about 11 years of working in 00:17:30.250 --> 00:17:32.450 the social work fields. I worked at residential 00:17:32.450 --> 00:17:34.410 treatment facilities. I worked as a child abuse 00:17:34.410 --> 00:17:37.390 investigator. I worked for Catholic Charities 00:17:37.390 --> 00:17:39.069 with the indigent. I worked with gang members 00:17:39.069 --> 00:17:40.710 on the South Side through communities and schools. 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:42.880 in the Harland Hill School District. I worked 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:44.779 for the Mexican American Community Council working 00:17:44.779 --> 00:17:47.380 with at -risk youth. I ended up in Travis County 00:17:47.380 --> 00:17:49.720 being a probation officer in Travis County. And 00:17:49.720 --> 00:17:52.240 then a year and a half before I came back to 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:54.279 law school in San Antonio, I was in Brownsville 00:17:54.279 --> 00:17:57.579 working at my old high school. And so it was 00:17:57.579 --> 00:17:59.539 when I was down there, I was down there because 00:17:59.539 --> 00:18:01.920 dad had taken a turn, his health had taken a 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:04.700 turn for the worse and mom needed help watching 00:18:04.700 --> 00:18:07.000 him. And while I was down there, I was teaching 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:08.819 in my old high school. My mom said, hey, you 00:18:08.819 --> 00:18:12.519 really need to reconsider. this pipe dream you 00:18:12.519 --> 00:18:16.319 had 10, 15 years ago of law school. And she says, 00:18:16.359 --> 00:18:19.000 what do you need? What stopped you all this time? 00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:20.960 I thought, you know, my life diverted in another 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:22.960 direction. And she says, well, we need you to 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:24.720 bring in some income more than what you're doing 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:26.980 now to help take care of your dad. Okay, all 00:18:26.980 --> 00:18:28.880 right, mom, what do you want me to do? Okay, 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:31.819 so let's get you ready for the LSAT. We got me 00:18:31.819 --> 00:18:33.980 prepped. Let's get you applications in. She helped 00:18:33.980 --> 00:18:36.420 with everything. And I came to St. Mary's Law 00:18:36.420 --> 00:18:40.680 School. I got admitted. Went on to have a solo 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:43.579 practice for about 17 years. From the point I 00:18:43.579 --> 00:18:45.619 started the social work fields to the point I 00:18:45.619 --> 00:18:48.599 became a lawyer, the same populations that I 00:18:48.599 --> 00:18:51.660 helped as a caseworker, as a social worker, as 00:18:51.660 --> 00:18:55.299 a probation officer, as a drug treatment counselor, 00:18:55.420 --> 00:18:57.839 all of that, were the populations that were now 00:18:57.839 --> 00:19:01.289 seeking me out as a lawyer. And I was I had a 00:19:01.289 --> 00:19:03.650 commitment to that population. I felt really 00:19:03.650 --> 00:19:06.829 strongly coming from South Texas that income 00:19:06.829 --> 00:19:09.670 should not dictate the quality of legal representation 00:19:09.670 --> 00:19:13.450 that you should be able to get. And so I've always 00:19:13.450 --> 00:19:15.990 I was that lawyer that gave you payment plans. 00:19:16.309 --> 00:19:18.190 And as long as you kept your payment plan, I 00:19:18.190 --> 00:19:19.769 don't care if it's twenty five dollars a week. 00:19:20.069 --> 00:19:23.599 We're going to work with you. And so. That was 00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:25.319 the kind of practice that I had for almost 17 00:19:25.319 --> 00:19:27.619 years before I got elected to go to the bench. 00:19:27.880 --> 00:19:30.720 But that experience, you know, I'll tell you 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:33.039 a brief story. When I was in Austin as a probation 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:35.420 officer, there was one year that I was there 00:19:35.420 --> 00:19:39.119 that I worked five jobs. I was probation officer. 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:42.039 I worked at a girls' residential facility at 00:19:42.039 --> 00:19:44.240 night. I worked at a women's residential facility 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:47.339 on the weekends. I worked security for nonprofits. 00:19:47.579 --> 00:19:49.980 And during basketball season, I was a UIO basketball 00:19:49.980 --> 00:19:52.640 referee for girls' high school basketball. And 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:54.799 I remember doing my taxes and sitting on the 00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:58.259 steps outside my apartment and thinking, man, 00:19:58.460 --> 00:20:02.880 I paid $36 ,000 and she was working five jobs. 00:20:03.259 --> 00:20:06.339 With a college degree. This is back in the mid 00:20:06.339 --> 00:20:09.339 -90s, early 90s. And I'm like, I remember asking 00:20:09.339 --> 00:20:12.380 rhetorically, is this as good as it's going to 00:20:12.380 --> 00:20:16.740 get? And, you know, of course, you keep thinking 00:20:16.740 --> 00:20:20.809 that. But once I got to... where I was at this 00:20:20.809 --> 00:20:24.970 bench, I looked back and was very grateful for 00:20:24.970 --> 00:20:28.470 every experience. When my lights got cut off 00:20:28.470 --> 00:20:30.730 because, you know, I didn't pay the bill, 20 00:20:30.730 --> 00:20:33.769 something. When I had to go and pawn something. 00:20:34.170 --> 00:20:37.329 When I, you know, I took that family on the bus 00:20:37.329 --> 00:20:39.569 to learn how to go grocery shopping and how to 00:20:39.569 --> 00:20:42.309 take the bus. When I, you know. went and pulled 00:20:42.309 --> 00:20:44.569 these kids out of a home where they were being 00:20:44.569 --> 00:20:47.230 profoundly abused and we had to go in with the 00:20:47.230 --> 00:20:50.670 SWAT team. Every experience put me where I was 00:20:50.670 --> 00:20:54.490 that day. And I want to believe that every one 00:20:54.490 --> 00:20:58.490 of those experiences as pre -law school and as 00:20:58.490 --> 00:21:01.769 an attorney have given me the insight that I 00:21:01.769 --> 00:21:03.849 need to deal with this population from the bench. 00:21:04.130 --> 00:21:07.069 There are no mistakes and there are no coincidences. 00:21:07.190 --> 00:21:11.839 And the journey's been a very, very... educational 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:15.339 for me and it's allowed me to serve san antonio 00:21:15.339 --> 00:21:17.799 which is a community that i believe i have a 00:21:17.799 --> 00:21:20.279 debt of gratitude to because it's a community 00:21:20.279 --> 00:21:22.279 that i chose to live in because i felt very welcome 00:21:22.279 --> 00:21:26.240 here back in the 80s and um i will forever feel 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:28.140 indebted and feel like i have to constantly pay 00:21:28.140 --> 00:21:30.819 the rent to have the privilege to live here and 00:21:30.819 --> 00:21:32.940 whatever i can do to make this community a safer 00:21:33.549 --> 00:21:36.650 uh more enjoyable place for not only us to live 00:21:36.650 --> 00:21:39.289 in but our spouses and our kids and our grandkids 00:21:39.289 --> 00:21:44.170 to live in then i can say i've done my job absolutely 00:21:44.170 --> 00:21:46.849 well you're one of the few and far between judges 00:21:46.849 --> 00:21:49.450 uh that i've seen and i know that i'm not saying 00:21:49.450 --> 00:21:51.769 that there's nobody else but you you've not only 00:21:51.769 --> 00:21:54.869 said uh you you said you're from brownsville 00:21:54.869 --> 00:21:58.079 but you're you're one of us And you really are. 00:21:58.519 --> 00:22:00.859 You've served in Antonio. In more ways than one. 00:22:03.640 --> 00:22:12.160 Yes, you are. And I think I'm in awe because 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:14.980 I feel that there's a lot of people that don't 00:22:14.980 --> 00:22:17.759 know. You say, you know, this community that 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:19.980 you serve, but I feel like you are you are part 00:22:19.980 --> 00:22:22.039 of that community. I mean, you you literally 00:22:22.039 --> 00:22:26.140 have been in the trenches. And I think it was. 00:22:27.230 --> 00:22:29.829 when you said I couldn't pay my bills, I didn't 00:22:29.829 --> 00:22:31.609 make very much money. I think we've all been 00:22:31.609 --> 00:22:34.289 there. We've all been in a place. And for those 00:22:34.289 --> 00:22:36.950 who haven't, thank God you haven't. Right. But 00:22:36.950 --> 00:22:39.130 it's true. And it really happens. And it gives 00:22:39.130 --> 00:22:42.130 you a lot of insight when you're dealing with 00:22:42.130 --> 00:22:45.509 people that are going through something. I think 00:22:45.509 --> 00:22:47.809 it's part of what makes you such a great judge. 00:22:49.259 --> 00:22:51.960 Because you're not really judging the person, 00:22:52.019 --> 00:22:54.240 right? You're judging the crime. Right. The behavior. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:57.660 Yeah, absolutely. The behavior, absolutely. I 00:22:57.660 --> 00:23:00.680 think that it's not black and white. And sometimes 00:23:00.680 --> 00:23:03.779 it's really difficult for somebody who we just 00:23:03.779 --> 00:23:08.079 recently sat down with some prosecutors that 00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:10.240 were talking about that. When they were prosecuting 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:12.319 attorneys, they said, well, everything was like, 00:23:12.339 --> 00:23:14.740 throw the book at them. And then when they got 00:23:14.740 --> 00:23:16.720 on the other side of it, it's like, oh, maybe 00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:20.769 I shouldn't have been that way. And I think that 00:23:20.769 --> 00:23:23.049 because you've taken all of these steps and God 00:23:23.049 --> 00:23:26.630 puts you in that path, we always say those broken 00:23:26.630 --> 00:23:28.910 roads that we've been through get us to where 00:23:28.910 --> 00:23:31.789 we're at. Judge, you're so impressive. I cannot 00:23:31.789 --> 00:23:35.849 tell you enough how impressed I am with you, 00:23:35.930 --> 00:23:41.470 how you're so approachable. My niece just... 00:23:41.819 --> 00:23:44.980 got a presidential award uh my great niece and 00:23:44.980 --> 00:23:48.220 she met you once you came to the house uh for 00:23:48.220 --> 00:23:51.000 a birthday party that we were having and that 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:52.980 you were gracious enough i invited you i didn't 00:23:52.980 --> 00:23:55.039 expect you to go she was campaigning she wasn't 00:23:55.039 --> 00:23:57.019 a judge yet she was still an attorney but you 00:23:57.019 --> 00:23:59.859 were campaigning and she walked into my house 00:23:59.859 --> 00:24:03.000 and was like What? Like, who is that? And I was 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:05.500 like, she's campaigning. And it was late. Like, 00:24:05.500 --> 00:24:08.079 it was like 10 o 'clock. She'd been out all day 00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:11.700 campaigning and stuff. And she came. When were 00:24:11.700 --> 00:24:13.200 you a judge? You were already a judge. No, I 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:14.500 might have been. It might have been in 2018, 00:24:14.819 --> 00:24:17.279 I think. Yeah. You lived in the cul -de -sac? 00:24:17.579 --> 00:24:20.680 Yes. Yes, over there by Seawalls. Yeah. So, yeah, 00:24:20.759 --> 00:24:22.460 because I had just moved from the Lofts, right, 00:24:22.539 --> 00:24:25.720 downtown, when we were all downtown. So, anyway, 00:24:26.019 --> 00:24:28.700 but everybody, and she was little. Bella was 00:24:28.700 --> 00:24:31.910 little. And she was just like. I like her. And 00:24:31.910 --> 00:24:34.089 she was just in awe with her. So that was it. 00:24:34.150 --> 00:24:36.589 So she just, we just found out last week, she 00:24:36.589 --> 00:24:41.670 placed first in mock trials in Austin. So she 00:24:41.670 --> 00:24:44.109 won a lab trial. So she was so happy and in tears. 00:24:44.190 --> 00:24:47.109 And then she got her acceptance. She got a full 00:24:47.109 --> 00:24:49.450 presidential for St. Mary's. She got accepted 00:24:49.450 --> 00:24:52.869 to A &M College Station, but she wanted UT in 00:24:52.869 --> 00:24:54.750 Austin. And she just found out that they accepted 00:24:54.750 --> 00:24:57.549 her. And she was just like, and just crying. 00:24:57.650 --> 00:25:00.559 Did you get the video? She was like, just. ecstatic 00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:05.140 but I will tell you that we don't have I think 00:25:05.140 --> 00:25:08.720 my stepsister graduated from from A &M College 00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:11.460 but we don't have college graduates and it's 00:25:11.460 --> 00:25:13.259 very difficult when you don't come from that 00:25:13.259 --> 00:25:17.559 background that you're It's the cycles that we're 00:25:17.559 --> 00:25:21.119 talking about. And her mom was a young mom just 00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:23.940 like me, so she didn't get to go to college either. 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:27.720 And for Bella to be doing what she's doing, I 00:25:27.720 --> 00:25:31.099 credit so much to you because you were a big 00:25:31.099 --> 00:25:32.880 influence and a little eighth grade girl that 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:34.920 was just in awe with you. She didn't even... 00:25:34.920 --> 00:25:37.299 Well, you know, and for me, you talk about the 00:25:37.299 --> 00:25:41.500 family cycles and dynamics. My model was my mother. 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:44.380 And so she started going to night school when 00:25:44.380 --> 00:25:47.519 I was about second. grade and she got her bachelor's 00:25:47.519 --> 00:25:49.500 and master's going to night school all the way 00:25:49.500 --> 00:25:52.220 until i was at the end of junior high so my brother 00:25:52.220 --> 00:25:54.099 and i didn't see her very often we saw her on 00:25:54.099 --> 00:25:55.940 the weekends and that's because we went to the 00:25:55.940 --> 00:25:58.160 library with her and she'd be upstairs in her 00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:00.119 study group and we'd be downstairs in the children's 00:26:00.119 --> 00:26:04.160 section of the library and um but people would 00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:05.839 come up to her because we have that cultural 00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:08.079 stigma right that women are supposed to be at 00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:10.519 home cooking raising the kids and what are you 00:26:10.519 --> 00:26:13.549 doing doing other things right and so people 00:26:13.549 --> 00:26:15.009 would come up to her and say what are you doing 00:26:15.009 --> 00:26:17.589 you know you're going to night school and working 00:26:17.589 --> 00:26:21.630 and your kids and she'd say look my husband and 00:26:21.630 --> 00:26:24.470 I have told our kids that education is the leveling 00:26:24.470 --> 00:26:27.809 of the playing field and with education you should 00:26:27.809 --> 00:26:29.769 be able to accomplish your dreams and we have 00:26:29.769 --> 00:26:32.529 to give them that example we have to live it 00:26:32.529 --> 00:26:36.000 by example and so I need to show them the difference 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:38.819 in lifestyle within education. So we were first 00:26:38.819 --> 00:26:42.279 -world witnesses to my mom just being a bookkeeper, 00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:45.259 getting her education and her master's to becoming 00:26:45.259 --> 00:26:48.079 a teacher and then a campus counselor and therapist. 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:51.500 And we saw that progression in our lives. And 00:26:51.500 --> 00:26:55.140 so that was probably the best thing, in her opinion, 00:26:55.220 --> 00:26:59.059 that she could have done for us. And so... The 00:26:59.059 --> 00:27:01.920 gift going forward is to encourage young ladies 00:27:01.920 --> 00:27:08.339 like your granddaughter and making sure that 00:27:08.339 --> 00:27:11.000 they don't have any mental, at the very least, 00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:13.599 mental obstacles and encouraging them. Because 00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:18.140 I see the residuals of trying to put children 00:27:18.140 --> 00:27:20.920 or individuals into a box that they don't fit 00:27:20.920 --> 00:27:24.440 into. because they are artists or they're just 00:27:24.440 --> 00:27:27.039 expressive or they're just different. And when 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:30.720 you try and stifle that type of spirit, you get 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:33.420 depression, you get anxiety, you get anger, and 00:27:33.420 --> 00:27:36.240 they become clients in mental health clinics, 00:27:36.339 --> 00:27:40.720 like the one my wife owns. And so the damage 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:43.180 is irreparable sometimes. The damage sometimes 00:27:43.180 --> 00:27:46.299 takes years of therapy or psychotherapy to address. 00:27:47.180 --> 00:27:49.299 But what if we just raise kids to be themselves? 00:27:49.950 --> 00:27:52.170 Wow. Right. What if we just said it's OK to wear 00:27:52.170 --> 00:27:54.289 a blue chuck and a red chuck at the same time? 00:27:54.410 --> 00:27:56.470 What if you say, you know, your green hair looks 00:27:56.470 --> 00:27:59.369 great. You should try purple next week. You know, 00:27:59.390 --> 00:28:01.970 it's OK. You know, as long as they've got good 00:28:01.970 --> 00:28:03.890 hygiene, as long as they've got good manners, 00:28:04.049 --> 00:28:06.349 you can express yourself any which way you want. 00:28:06.470 --> 00:28:09.490 And you have much healthier kids with a broader 00:28:09.490 --> 00:28:12.369 range of their experience in the world and a 00:28:12.369 --> 00:28:15.190 lot more adjustable to what challenges life may 00:28:15.190 --> 00:28:17.920 throw at them. I think I agree with you 100 % 00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:20.859 because I think that the biggest, my biggest 00:28:20.859 --> 00:28:23.859 critic is me, right? And I think we've all grown 00:28:23.859 --> 00:28:26.559 up in a certain way where you, you know, it's 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:29.099 our parents. You just put your finger on it because 00:28:29.099 --> 00:28:31.079 it isn't you. It's a voice you hear in your head. 00:28:31.160 --> 00:28:33.000 Yeah. And that voice is a recording of something 00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:35.700 someone said to you that you keep playing over 00:28:35.700 --> 00:28:38.779 and over and over again. It's usually a parent 00:28:38.779 --> 00:28:41.960 or a grandparent or a caretaker that gets. recorded 00:28:41.960 --> 00:28:44.000 in your head and you carry it with you until 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:47.039 the tape plays out or you get rid of that tape 00:28:47.039 --> 00:28:49.559 and put in the new tape. Yeah, I think you're 00:28:49.559 --> 00:28:52.819 right. I think with dad, like education is so 00:28:52.819 --> 00:28:54.980 important. Right. And so my brother's a drummer 00:28:54.980 --> 00:28:58.619 and that was like that music. He's a rock and 00:28:58.619 --> 00:29:00.460 roll drummer. So it's like and that's when rock 00:29:00.460 --> 00:29:04.079 and roll is from the devil. So it's a disco. 00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:07.880 I try to I try to convince my dad that Ozzy Osbourne 00:29:07.880 --> 00:29:11.160 was a Christian and he had a cross. And I was 00:29:11.160 --> 00:29:13.859 trying to go to this concert and he said, no, 00:29:14.019 --> 00:29:17.319 no, no. Oh, daddy was like, I said, you know. 00:29:17.680 --> 00:29:20.559 So my mom was very different. Their mother built 00:29:20.559 --> 00:29:23.680 my brother, took the garage and soundproofed 00:29:23.680 --> 00:29:26.119 it and let them play all night. She's like, go 00:29:26.119 --> 00:29:28.400 to your closet or go to sleep because you got 00:29:28.400 --> 00:29:30.500 to let them play. Right. And so I remember my 00:29:30.500 --> 00:29:33.680 mom, she didn't really let them discover themselves. 00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:35.559 Yeah. And she did. I mean, she didn't really. 00:29:35.660 --> 00:29:39.440 So they took us. Listen to yourself. You think 00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:41.420 our parents or grandparents would have said at 00:29:41.420 --> 00:29:43.839 their time, oh, you got to let them be themselves. 00:29:44.180 --> 00:29:50.019 No. No. That is why parenting for me has been 00:29:50.019 --> 00:29:53.019 a challenge somewhat because we let, you know, 00:29:53.039 --> 00:29:55.119 it's like you said, you let the kids figure out 00:29:55.119 --> 00:29:57.059 what is it they want to do. We tell our daughter, 00:29:57.119 --> 00:30:00.920 you know. go and be the best person that you 00:30:00.920 --> 00:30:04.119 can be out there and and be that you know that's 00:30:04.119 --> 00:30:07.680 so much a representative of us but you are oh 00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:11.940 you are i tell my kids that all day yeah you 00:30:11.940 --> 00:30:14.480 know it's like you are a representation representation 00:30:14.480 --> 00:30:17.920 of us but be the best you you can be you know 00:30:17.920 --> 00:30:21.220 and what it is you want to do and and um you 00:30:21.220 --> 00:30:25.339 know my wife and i were you know she you know, 00:30:25.339 --> 00:30:28.359 was raised a certain way. And I mean, her parents 00:30:28.359 --> 00:30:32.299 were strict on her. if the light ain't on by 00:30:32.299 --> 00:30:33.980 the time you get, I'm locking the door, that 00:30:33.980 --> 00:30:36.099 kind of thing. You know, if the streetlight comes 00:30:36.099 --> 00:30:42.319 on, I'm locking the door. That's it. Then I'll 00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:44.619 beat you when you come inside. And that's just 00:30:44.619 --> 00:30:47.059 pretty much, and you had said something judge 00:30:47.059 --> 00:30:49.339 that, that, you know, it's like, you don't want 00:30:49.339 --> 00:30:52.359 to be the example. And, and here, this thing 00:30:52.359 --> 00:30:54.900 with the reflejo court, you're giving them a 00:30:54.900 --> 00:30:57.539 chance, another chance, an opportunity to be 00:30:57.539 --> 00:31:00.599 able to, you know, what, you know, believe in 00:31:00.599 --> 00:31:04.420 themselves again. And I think that is so... Let's 00:31:04.420 --> 00:31:07.960 just say I might have a family member that's 00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:14.220 been against the law a couple times. And let 00:31:14.220 --> 00:31:16.900 me just say, if you have a third chance court, 00:31:17.160 --> 00:31:20.460 he might feel that. So let's just say I know 00:31:20.460 --> 00:31:23.900 somebody that would have taken advantage of this 00:31:23.900 --> 00:31:29.220 because it fit the profile. This day, you know, 00:31:29.240 --> 00:31:34.240 I would not I if I had, you know, again, a lot 00:31:34.240 --> 00:31:36.619 of this is what you've talked about. I've been 00:31:36.619 --> 00:31:38.779 illiterate, too, because I don't know. I don't 00:31:38.779 --> 00:31:42.039 know a lot of that stuff. But, you know, I couldn't 00:31:42.039 --> 00:31:45.180 imagine. I know the attorney's job is to convince 00:31:45.180 --> 00:31:50.019 you and the jury as to where your job, you know, 00:31:50.039 --> 00:31:53.029 I don't know if there's like a. like a guideline 00:31:53.029 --> 00:31:56.349 of okay you know this is what the i'm gonna sentence 00:31:56.349 --> 00:31:58.470 you know and that kind of thing because it's 00:31:58.470 --> 00:32:01.509 got to be hard i mean so hard i only want to 00:32:01.509 --> 00:32:04.630 be a judge if you paid me because it just seems 00:32:04.630 --> 00:32:07.809 like so much is uh how do i determine what's 00:32:07.809 --> 00:32:11.369 good for this person here and do they have or 00:32:11.369 --> 00:32:13.589 is it just a one -time deal to look into that 00:32:13.589 --> 00:32:16.490 and take time for that i thought i applaud you 00:32:16.490 --> 00:32:18.750 for that that's really cool because it does give 00:32:18.750 --> 00:32:21.619 them hope And that's what it is, hope. And somebody 00:32:21.619 --> 00:32:24.180 believes in them enough to give them that opportunity. 00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:26.500 And like you said, not everybody is going to 00:32:26.500 --> 00:32:29.980 pass. And it's obviously not a very easy program, 00:32:30.119 --> 00:32:31.880 but they've got to prove themselves. Correct. 00:32:31.960 --> 00:32:33.920 So it's not just something like handing out free 00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:36.559 passes. That's not what the court is at all. 00:32:36.579 --> 00:32:39.619 No, and because it is a court that we talked 00:32:39.619 --> 00:32:42.910 about that addresses trauma and triggers. along 00:32:42.910 --> 00:32:45.410 their journey in our court they will be quote 00:32:45.410 --> 00:32:48.769 unquote triggered and their behaviors will reflect 00:32:48.769 --> 00:32:51.109 their triggers and so we have to we have to meet 00:32:51.109 --> 00:32:53.450 them where they're at and so when they're triggered 00:32:53.450 --> 00:32:57.390 we address the trigger and then we we slow it 00:32:57.390 --> 00:32:59.990 down and then we move forward from there and 00:32:59.990 --> 00:33:03.230 we teach them how to recognize hey i'm being 00:33:03.230 --> 00:33:06.730 triggered and how to not react to those triggers 00:33:06.730 --> 00:33:09.589 but to respond to those triggers so that they 00:33:09.589 --> 00:33:13.740 don't have a reactive uh They don't lift the 00:33:13.740 --> 00:33:16.779 hand. They don't come at you violently. They 00:33:16.779 --> 00:33:20.559 don't dress you down verbally because a lot of 00:33:20.559 --> 00:33:23.059 the abuse that we often hear about starts with 00:33:23.059 --> 00:33:26.059 emotional and verbal abuse and moves into a physical 00:33:26.059 --> 00:33:28.640 contact type of situation. The behavior is one 00:33:28.640 --> 00:33:31.319 of progression. And so that's the other reason 00:33:31.319 --> 00:33:33.619 we look at first -time offenders because if we 00:33:33.619 --> 00:33:35.940 can, as they say, nip it in the bud, you know, 00:33:35.940 --> 00:33:38.339 cut it right there where the bulb is for the 00:33:38.339 --> 00:33:41.859 flower, then... we have an opportunity to have 00:33:41.859 --> 00:33:45.119 it grow in a different direction, right? And 00:33:45.119 --> 00:33:48.720 so that's the importance. Because if you don't 00:33:48.720 --> 00:33:51.700 get it early, then it progresses into more severe, 00:33:51.799 --> 00:33:54.279 profound behaviors. And inevitably, the science 00:33:54.279 --> 00:33:58.519 will show that it'll end up in a homicide. So 00:33:58.519 --> 00:34:02.420 there's a great documentary on Netflix. It's 00:34:02.420 --> 00:34:05.079 still showing. It's called I Am a Stalker. If 00:34:05.079 --> 00:34:08.179 you have time, there's about 12... chapters or 00:34:08.179 --> 00:34:11.820 episodes and each episode covers an individual 00:34:11.820 --> 00:34:14.719 two or three of them are from san antonio as 00:34:14.719 --> 00:34:18.880 a matter of fact but um it has a before and after 00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:22.440 right and so everyone had a catalyst event in 00:34:22.440 --> 00:34:25.619 their in their episode before the episode you 00:34:25.619 --> 00:34:29.019 get this pretty you know the the bugs bunny music 00:34:29.019 --> 00:34:31.440 in the back with the birds chirping and the harps 00:34:31.440 --> 00:34:36.219 and then the episode and then where the behavior 00:34:36.219 --> 00:34:38.840 escalates. And by the end of their episode, they're 00:34:38.840 --> 00:34:41.500 sitting in a cell in a state penitentiary for 00:34:41.500 --> 00:34:43.960 a crime they committed that hurt somebody or 00:34:43.960 --> 00:34:46.219 killed somebody. And the whole first half of 00:34:46.219 --> 00:34:47.860 their episode, you actually like the person, 00:34:47.940 --> 00:34:50.000 right? But by the second half of the episode, 00:34:50.139 --> 00:34:53.639 you see what happens because nobody put the brakes 00:34:53.639 --> 00:34:55.860 on them. No one provided them the guidance or 00:34:55.860 --> 00:34:58.860 the interventions that they needed to not end 00:34:58.860 --> 00:35:01.119 up in a prison and not end up having committed 00:35:01.119 --> 00:35:04.230 a catastrophic crime. I have a quick question, 00:35:04.309 --> 00:35:10.150 Judge. What is some of the success stories that 00:35:10.150 --> 00:35:13.570 you can say or that you've seen yourself that, 00:35:13.610 --> 00:35:16.190 you know, some that have been on this part of 00:35:16.190 --> 00:35:18.670 this court? We've had people that have become 00:35:18.670 --> 00:35:20.929 citizens that weren't citizens. And if they had 00:35:20.929 --> 00:35:22.449 this conviction, they were never going to become 00:35:22.449 --> 00:35:26.929 citizens. We've had folks who have now joined 00:35:26.929 --> 00:35:29.469 the military who would not have been able to 00:35:29.469 --> 00:35:31.389 join the military if they had this type of conviction. 00:35:32.269 --> 00:35:35.329 We've had folks who got primary custody of their 00:35:35.329 --> 00:35:37.650 children. because their case started over an 00:35:37.650 --> 00:35:39.670 altercation with the other parent, and now they're 00:35:39.670 --> 00:35:41.190 in the middle of a custody dispute, but they 00:35:41.190 --> 00:35:43.030 finished the program, and they proved to the 00:35:43.030 --> 00:35:44.989 other court, hey, I'm going to be the better 00:35:44.989 --> 00:35:47.070 parent because I've been sober for two years, 00:35:47.150 --> 00:35:50.489 and I've learned parenting, and they get primary 00:35:50.489 --> 00:35:52.449 custody of their kids over the other parent who 00:35:52.449 --> 00:35:54.409 didn't get as many interventions as this parent 00:35:54.409 --> 00:35:57.230 got in our referral court. We have folks that 00:35:57.230 --> 00:36:00.130 are now working as case managers and drug treatment 00:36:00.130 --> 00:36:03.030 counselors at Haven for Hope, at the place they 00:36:03.030 --> 00:36:06.699 lived at when they were in our program. So those 00:36:06.699 --> 00:36:08.719 are the types of success stories that we hear. 00:36:08.820 --> 00:36:12.280 We just published a collection of their success 00:36:12.280 --> 00:36:15.239 stories, and it's called Stories of Transformation. 00:36:15.559 --> 00:36:17.840 And you can get a free copy down at the courthouse. 00:36:17.860 --> 00:36:20.659 You just go down and see Terry in County Court 00:36:20.659 --> 00:36:24.519 13. She's our admin assistant. And we're on the 00:36:24.519 --> 00:36:26.440 third floor of the Cadena Ridge Justice Center. 00:36:26.480 --> 00:36:28.420 Get up there and go to Court 13, ask for Terry, 00:36:28.480 --> 00:36:29.840 and she'll give you a copy of the book. And they 00:36:29.840 --> 00:36:33.440 come back and thank you personally? Yes. As a 00:36:33.440 --> 00:36:35.679 matter of fact, a large... A group of them showed 00:36:35.679 --> 00:36:37.460 up a couple of weeks ago at Commissioner's Court 00:36:37.460 --> 00:36:39.940 because they got wind that there was a possibility 00:36:39.940 --> 00:36:41.960 that one of the commissioners might pull the 00:36:41.960 --> 00:36:45.019 budget for the federal court with more questions, 00:36:45.079 --> 00:36:48.059 and they weren't having it. And so they showed 00:36:48.059 --> 00:36:50.019 up and gave testimony, and by the end of that 00:36:50.019 --> 00:36:51.800 meeting, the budget had been approved for the 00:36:51.800 --> 00:36:54.480 federal court. I mean, it's like a, what is it, 00:36:54.539 --> 00:36:58.659 a 98 % rate that you have? I mean, that is, I 00:36:58.659 --> 00:37:01.639 mean, how is there not a budget for that? I mean, 00:37:01.659 --> 00:37:05.099 that's just, that's a no -brainer. It really 00:37:05.099 --> 00:37:08.139 is. If I can see that, I mean, come on. But I 00:37:08.139 --> 00:37:12.380 think one thing, Judge, I feel like. And I've 00:37:12.380 --> 00:37:16.219 known you for many years, and I've learned so 00:37:16.219 --> 00:37:19.460 much about you here today that I knew very little 00:37:19.460 --> 00:37:22.360 about even the court. Like, I know, I see the 00:37:22.360 --> 00:37:24.400 press releases and stuff, and you're not one 00:37:24.400 --> 00:37:27.599 to... toot your own horn and you don't talk about 00:37:27.599 --> 00:37:29.960 all these accomplishments and things i got to 00:37:29.960 --> 00:37:32.039 know your upbringing because of the manguera 00:37:32.039 --> 00:37:35.159 memories that i absolutely love if you have not 00:37:35.159 --> 00:37:37.260 seen it we are going to republish and i know 00:37:37.260 --> 00:37:39.920 we've talked about publishing the book uh for 00:37:39.920 --> 00:37:42.000 manguera memories you have to see this stuff 00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:45.139 if you've not seen it it is amazing she is such 00:37:45.139 --> 00:37:47.900 a great writer like you have to see that you 00:37:47.900 --> 00:37:51.039 have to read it i remember uh let me send you 00:37:51.039 --> 00:37:54.320 one called la migra We ran that last week, two 00:37:54.320 --> 00:37:55.980 weeks ago. Two weeks ago. Two weeks ago in La 00:37:55.980 --> 00:37:59.199 Prensa. We re -ran it. But it is fun. Everything, 00:37:59.480 --> 00:38:02.199 it's so entertaining. I remember I went with 00:38:02.199 --> 00:38:04.860 Steve Duran at the time as a publisher. And he's 00:38:04.860 --> 00:38:06.019 like, I need you to come with me. I'm going to 00:38:06.019 --> 00:38:08.079 go talk to somebody about writing a book. And 00:38:08.079 --> 00:38:09.679 they write a book and they want to pull it out. 00:38:09.800 --> 00:38:12.380 And he's like, you're going to read it. I'll 00:38:12.380 --> 00:38:14.820 be the bearer of bad news, right, if it wasn't 00:38:14.820 --> 00:38:17.199 a good book. So we're at Luby's and we're in 00:38:17.199 --> 00:38:19.639 line and I'm reading it. And I was just laughing, 00:38:19.760 --> 00:38:22.329 just skimming through it. it right I wasn't even 00:38:22.329 --> 00:38:25.110 reading the whole thing and I was like this is 00:38:25.110 --> 00:38:27.690 so good you're such an entertaining writer have 00:38:27.690 --> 00:38:31.570 you always written no uh you know that I had 00:38:32.010 --> 00:38:35.730 Some very good teachers. I'm a product of the 00:38:35.730 --> 00:38:38.989 public school system from South Texas. People 00:38:38.989 --> 00:38:41.190 had, I remember in college, wanted to use that 00:38:41.190 --> 00:38:44.250 against me. And it turned out that I probably 00:38:44.250 --> 00:38:46.250 wrote better than many of the women that were 00:38:46.250 --> 00:38:48.630 in college that went to school back east. And 00:38:48.630 --> 00:38:53.380 I had great English teachers. I had Mr. Frigeaux 00:38:53.380 --> 00:38:58.679 in junior high. I had Mrs. Wright and Mr. Lawton 00:38:58.679 --> 00:39:04.079 and Mrs. Frankie in high school. And then back 00:39:04.079 --> 00:39:07.400 then, you may be too young to remember this, 00:39:07.420 --> 00:39:11.300 it was a typewriter. And you had to have a little 00:39:11.300 --> 00:39:15.320 ribbon that erased it off the paper or this pencil 00:39:15.320 --> 00:39:18.369 that had an eraser on it that... tore a hole 00:39:18.369 --> 00:39:21.329 in your paper right and if you screwed up the 00:39:21.329 --> 00:39:23.570 typing there went the whole page yeah and you 00:39:23.570 --> 00:39:27.570 had to start over right and so um that's how 00:39:27.570 --> 00:39:30.869 i started the writing i never journaled um and 00:39:30.869 --> 00:39:33.429 i didn't really start to to kind of put stories 00:39:33.429 --> 00:39:36.369 together until i was an adult i had been published 00:39:36.369 --> 00:39:39.070 in some stuff out of austin uh it was a whole 00:39:39.070 --> 00:39:42.010 different writing style they they tear you down 00:39:42.010 --> 00:39:44.510 in law school and if you thought you were a good 00:39:44.510 --> 00:39:48.010 writer You better have another thing coming because 00:39:48.010 --> 00:39:51.260 law school just... It just breaks you down to 00:39:51.260 --> 00:39:54.280 the bare bones. And so it makes you rethink and 00:39:54.280 --> 00:39:57.219 question your writing abilities. And then I came 00:39:57.219 --> 00:40:00.579 back to it and then got published by La Prensa 00:40:00.579 --> 00:40:03.239 with those memories. I love them. They're so 00:40:03.239 --> 00:40:05.440 good. And I want to show them with the world. 00:40:06.739 --> 00:40:09.440 They're so engaging and you don't want to put 00:40:09.440 --> 00:40:11.440 them down. And I just love, love, love. And I 00:40:11.440 --> 00:40:13.360 tell everybody about them all the time because 00:40:13.360 --> 00:40:15.980 they really are so good. Judge, there's a lot 00:40:15.980 --> 00:40:20.280 of... You've done so much, and I wonder right 00:40:20.280 --> 00:40:24.559 now to ask you, if you could talk to your younger 00:40:24.559 --> 00:40:29.900 self, what would you tell little Rosie? Probably 00:40:29.900 --> 00:40:33.980 the one thing that I think you acquire through 00:40:33.980 --> 00:40:37.800 age, and that's patience. And you want everything 00:40:37.800 --> 00:40:40.699 right now, right here, right? Everything. And 00:40:40.699 --> 00:40:44.940 you don't understand the value of... the hard 00:40:44.940 --> 00:40:47.659 work to put into it to get the ultimate result. 00:40:47.880 --> 00:40:50.460 You don't understand that if you take shortcuts, 00:40:50.739 --> 00:40:53.739 you're going to get a less quality product, whatever 00:40:53.739 --> 00:40:58.260 you're striving for. We talk about how I was 00:40:58.260 --> 00:41:01.320 raised. My parents were very mindful of the fact 00:41:01.320 --> 00:41:04.559 that they had a different kind of child. And 00:41:04.559 --> 00:41:06.380 I remember my mom always telling me, you know, 00:41:06.400 --> 00:41:09.460 you getting straight A's and having perfect attendance, 00:41:09.900 --> 00:41:13.579 you stay good cut. You're going to have to be 00:41:13.579 --> 00:41:15.079 twice as good. You're going to have to be three 00:41:15.079 --> 00:41:16.320 times as good. You're going to have to be four 00:41:16.320 --> 00:41:18.059 times as good as the person next to you because 00:41:18.059 --> 00:41:21.019 of who you are. They're going to exclude you. 00:41:21.780 --> 00:41:24.440 They're going to overlook you. They're going 00:41:24.440 --> 00:41:28.460 to ignore you. And there was one particular story 00:41:28.460 --> 00:41:32.639 of when we were growing up, a brand new church's 00:41:32.639 --> 00:41:34.679 fried chicken opened up a block and a half away 00:41:34.679 --> 00:41:39.079 from the house. And on Saturday nights or Sundays, 00:41:39.239 --> 00:41:41.579 depending, It was either going to watch the Lawrence 00:41:41.579 --> 00:41:43.280 Welk show or the Red Skeleton show, depending 00:41:43.280 --> 00:41:45.599 what night it was. And we were going to eat the 00:41:45.599 --> 00:41:47.400 family pack of Church's Fried Chicken while we 00:41:47.400 --> 00:41:51.039 watched TV. And I remember she sent me and my 00:41:51.039 --> 00:41:52.920 brother, I was about eight or nine, and he must 00:41:52.920 --> 00:41:55.420 have been about five or six, to go get the bucks. 00:41:56.619 --> 00:41:58.860 I didn't know she followed me. I guess I took 00:41:58.860 --> 00:42:02.440 too long. And I was at the window, which was 00:42:02.440 --> 00:42:05.579 about here to my face. And at that time, it was 00:42:05.579 --> 00:42:07.300 all men that worked at Church's Fried Chicken. 00:42:07.480 --> 00:42:10.400 And there was a line. of men ordering dinner. 00:42:11.320 --> 00:42:13.119 And before I knew it, she was standing right 00:42:13.119 --> 00:42:15.760 behind me. And she said to the man, what's the 00:42:15.760 --> 00:42:18.960 problem? Why have you not taken my daughter's 00:42:18.960 --> 00:42:21.719 order? Well, I didn't see her kind of thing, 00:42:21.780 --> 00:42:23.960 right? So she said, well, we'll have a family 00:42:23.960 --> 00:42:26.199 pack and she's been waiting here for 10 minutes. 00:42:26.360 --> 00:42:28.559 So we'd like it right away. So they took care 00:42:28.559 --> 00:42:31.639 of it. She walked back to the house with us and 00:42:31.639 --> 00:42:35.320 then she laid into me. And the lesson was, don't 00:42:35.320 --> 00:42:38.000 you ever let anybody cut in front of you in line. 00:42:38.869 --> 00:42:41.190 You were at the front of the line. And then the 00:42:41.190 --> 00:42:44.530 next lesson, and you speak up. You speak up and 00:42:44.530 --> 00:42:47.010 you have your voice heard. And that's the two 00:42:47.010 --> 00:42:49.070 lessons from that. And I've carried it with me 00:42:49.070 --> 00:42:52.829 for the rest of my life. And it's so unfortunate 00:42:52.829 --> 00:42:56.869 that that is the truth and that is the reality. 00:42:57.150 --> 00:42:59.670 Judge, I think it's very difficult when we come 00:42:59.670 --> 00:43:03.469 from a Hispanic background because just Hispanics 00:43:03.469 --> 00:43:07.000 itself were told not to. Daddy was taught, don't 00:43:07.000 --> 00:43:08.900 talk. Sit in the back of the classroom, Ralph. 00:43:08.980 --> 00:43:10.960 You're a good kid. Just sit in the back of the 00:43:10.960 --> 00:43:13.039 classroom and you'll be okay. Don't come home 00:43:13.039 --> 00:43:14.579 with the note that you got in trouble, that you 00:43:14.579 --> 00:43:16.519 were talking or that, you know. Oh, yeah. Daddy 00:43:16.519 --> 00:43:18.699 never, he knew better. Daddy used to live in 00:43:18.699 --> 00:43:21.460 the projects. And after seven, they weren't allowed 00:43:21.460 --> 00:43:24.179 to be walking the streets. And if the cops did 00:43:24.179 --> 00:43:26.440 catch you, which they would, they would ask them, 00:43:26.460 --> 00:43:28.260 what do you want to do? Juvedile? Get a record? 00:43:28.420 --> 00:43:31.030 Well, my grandma would have to go. or he'd get 00:43:31.030 --> 00:43:32.849 a beating with the baton, so they'd handcuff 00:43:32.849 --> 00:43:35.730 him and beat him with the baton. Yikes. And so 00:43:35.730 --> 00:43:38.010 for my grandmother not to do that, just like 00:43:38.010 --> 00:43:40.730 you said, a bad note is one of the least, but 00:43:40.730 --> 00:43:43.809 he knew how to stay in line. Mother, a little 00:43:43.809 --> 00:43:46.769 bit different. And mother would say, you speak 00:43:46.769 --> 00:43:49.320 up. You don't know. You tell them, you call my 00:43:49.320 --> 00:43:51.599 mom. I go, I did. No, you say it more than once. 00:43:51.659 --> 00:43:53.579 You don't let teachers talk to you that way. 00:43:53.699 --> 00:43:56.000 You don't, you know, if somebody is wrong, they're 00:43:56.000 --> 00:43:59.199 wrong. And you've got to speak up. And you threaten 00:43:59.199 --> 00:44:01.059 them with the media. You threaten them with the 00:44:01.059 --> 00:44:03.639 media. And, you know, nowadays, unfortunately, 00:44:04.139 --> 00:44:06.420 I'm very proud of being part of the media. And 00:44:06.420 --> 00:44:09.199 I'm glad that I have this platform. And La Peranza 00:44:09.199 --> 00:44:13.199 is a very different. Thank God it's a very, very 00:44:13.199 --> 00:44:17.519 different instrument than mainstream media, right? 00:44:17.559 --> 00:44:19.920 We are a community and we are here to serve our 00:44:19.920 --> 00:44:21.780 community and talk about the things that really 00:44:21.780 --> 00:44:25.480 do matter. I think it's insane how now with social 00:44:25.480 --> 00:44:29.079 media that you can be attacked for. It's such 00:44:29.079 --> 00:44:33.039 a great instrument to voice, but why do we voice 00:44:33.039 --> 00:44:36.480 so much hate? Well, I think it's a phenomenon 00:44:36.480 --> 00:44:41.000 that I think people of our age have seen. develop 00:44:41.000 --> 00:44:44.239 and it's called the weaponization right we use 00:44:44.239 --> 00:44:46.719 systems that are in place and we weaponize them 00:44:46.719 --> 00:44:49.800 i'll give you an example because this has gone 00:44:49.800 --> 00:44:52.679 on for decades people that call in false reports 00:44:52.679 --> 00:44:55.380 of child abuse yes because they're in a custody 00:44:55.380 --> 00:44:57.900 dispute or because the grandmother wants the 00:44:57.900 --> 00:45:00.199 kids over the or they're mad at their mother 00:45:00.199 --> 00:45:02.579 or their sister or that's that's a weaponization 00:45:02.579 --> 00:45:05.340 of a system that's meant to protect children 00:45:05.340 --> 00:45:10.510 not for vindictiveness but We as a society, as 00:45:10.510 --> 00:45:13.489 a culture, have developed this behavioral pattern 00:45:13.489 --> 00:45:16.510 in people that they weaponize the very systems 00:45:16.510 --> 00:45:19.210 that are supposed to help us. And so I think 00:45:19.210 --> 00:45:22.210 that's what is happening with the media. And 00:45:22.210 --> 00:45:25.210 it's become so competitive for readership that 00:45:25.210 --> 00:45:29.289 the media no longer is interested in facts. They're 00:45:29.289 --> 00:45:32.610 infotainment. I compare it to the National Enquirer. 00:45:32.789 --> 00:45:35.909 So I used to love to walk out and write all the 00:45:35.909 --> 00:45:38.889 sun, the globe, but the National Enquirer, I 00:45:38.889 --> 00:45:40.510 was like, eh. You actually bought it. I would 00:45:40.510 --> 00:45:42.210 just pick it up and read it while we sit in line 00:45:42.210 --> 00:45:45.630 and then I put it back. But it's now become the 00:45:45.630 --> 00:45:48.789 society of we love Cheeseman, but we hate Cheeseman. 00:45:49.630 --> 00:45:52.289 Maybe. We love Cheeseman when it's about someone 00:45:52.289 --> 00:45:55.389 else and hate it when it's about us. I don't 00:45:55.389 --> 00:45:58.519 know about us. I think that Cheeseman is... fun 00:45:58.519 --> 00:46:01.699 to an extent if it's true you know well okay 00:46:01.699 --> 00:46:04.760 if the cheese is true it's true but if the cheese 00:46:04.760 --> 00:46:07.019 is not true of course if you think it's not if 00:46:07.019 --> 00:46:09.340 it's true it's not cheese man yeah if it's true 00:46:09.340 --> 00:46:19.539 it's news i remember when i got with the news 00:46:19.539 --> 00:46:23.659 station and my first week there i found out like 00:46:23.659 --> 00:46:27.500 i came from stand up i came from a fan base i 00:46:27.500 --> 00:46:31.539 had a family and this was new to me I found out 00:46:31.539 --> 00:46:35.179 what trolls were and my first week there on the 00:46:35.179 --> 00:46:39.139 news I had everybody I went in and I remember 00:46:39.139 --> 00:46:41.719 Christina DeLeon said she sat next to me she 00:46:41.719 --> 00:46:44.179 goes are you she's typing she's not even looking 00:46:44.179 --> 00:46:45.699 at me are you what are you seeing what they're 00:46:45.699 --> 00:46:47.480 putting on you know it's Facebook and I'm like 00:46:47.480 --> 00:46:50.659 and I'm looking I'm like get this guy off the 00:46:50.659 --> 00:46:53.420 TV I'd rather hear dogs get it on all kinds of 00:46:53.420 --> 00:46:57.179 stuff you go kill yourself and I'm like This 00:46:57.179 --> 00:46:59.599 clown doesn't even know me. Right. And then I 00:46:59.599 --> 00:47:02.300 found out you're not supposed to acknowledge 00:47:02.300 --> 00:47:04.360 them and answer them. You're supposed to say, 00:47:04.480 --> 00:47:07.380 thank you very much for watching. I really appreciate 00:47:07.380 --> 00:47:11.679 it. Hell to the no. I said, uh -uh. I said, you 00:47:11.679 --> 00:47:14.019 don't know me, Haas. It's called where's Clefto. 00:47:14.019 --> 00:47:17.320 Come say to my face. I was like, you don't know 00:47:17.320 --> 00:47:21.199 me. And then I said this. And I got in trouble. 00:47:21.380 --> 00:47:23.480 I had to go to the office and they took me off 00:47:23.480 --> 00:47:26.039 social media because I told them, hey, Haas. 00:47:26.489 --> 00:47:29.650 It don't take much to change the channel. That's 00:47:29.650 --> 00:47:31.889 all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. No, you 00:47:31.889 --> 00:47:34.489 don't say that. I did not realize that when you're 00:47:34.489 --> 00:47:37.050 in the public eye now, and you can relate to, 00:47:37.130 --> 00:47:41.130 when you're in the public eye, it's like you're 00:47:41.130 --> 00:47:44.989 an open target now. And you are, and now you're 00:47:44.989 --> 00:47:48.849 in it too. This is it. It's like you give them 00:47:48.849 --> 00:47:51.429 a little bit. And they'll take you like a whole 00:47:51.429 --> 00:47:53.730 mile. And they don't even know you. And that's 00:47:53.730 --> 00:47:55.210 the thing. They don't even live here. They don't 00:47:55.210 --> 00:47:57.710 live here. In another state, in another country, 00:47:57.789 --> 00:48:00.289 around the world. But they have an opinion. Yes. 00:48:00.489 --> 00:48:02.570 And it's like, it doesn't matter if they just 00:48:02.570 --> 00:48:04.769 go by what you look like, what you sound like, 00:48:04.809 --> 00:48:08.050 what you're about. I have, you know, so many 00:48:08.050 --> 00:48:11.489 people come at me when that first happened, you 00:48:11.489 --> 00:48:13.429 know, coming on the news. They know what to make 00:48:13.429 --> 00:48:16.289 of me. It took them a while for them to. okay 00:48:16.289 --> 00:48:18.710 he's like us and he doesn't know what the hell 00:48:18.710 --> 00:48:20.909 he's talking about it's like he's he's funny 00:48:20.909 --> 00:48:22.929 okay we get it we know what they're trying to 00:48:22.929 --> 00:48:27.460 do here but it was uh you know and again It's 00:48:27.460 --> 00:48:30.219 like for those people that don't know you, Judge. 00:48:30.380 --> 00:48:33.719 I mean, I got a chance to meet Judge about a 00:48:33.719 --> 00:48:36.360 year and a half ago, maybe two years ago. We 00:48:36.360 --> 00:48:41.000 were doing a celebrity barbecue tasting at a 00:48:41.000 --> 00:48:44.739 lowrider convention. And I got a chance to meet 00:48:44.739 --> 00:48:46.840 her. And I tell you right now, if you've never 00:48:46.840 --> 00:48:50.519 met her. You you just you feel like you've known 00:48:50.519 --> 00:48:53.019 her and I felt like I know that we just clicked 00:48:53.019 --> 00:48:56.039 we came really good friends and I consider her 00:48:56.039 --> 00:49:00.880 friend and She came to one of my shows at the 00:49:00.880 --> 00:49:03.800 Mi Familia and I thought that was super cool 00:49:03.800 --> 00:49:06.139 You came with your wife and it was I hope you 00:49:06.139 --> 00:49:08.139 had a good time It was like it was like man. 00:49:08.280 --> 00:49:11.340 I was like, you know, it's like you you you know 00:49:11.340 --> 00:49:14.820 certain when you meet people you just know that 00:49:14.820 --> 00:49:17.099 the character you know and it's like you know 00:49:17.099 --> 00:49:19.679 that that you feel when you know you've known 00:49:19.679 --> 00:49:22.860 them for a long time it's uh you don't see too 00:49:22.860 --> 00:49:25.059 many of those and then it's like there's one 00:49:25.059 --> 00:49:29.480 thing about being strong and vocal but to be 00:49:29.480 --> 00:49:32.760 able to have charisma with people just regular 00:49:32.760 --> 00:49:35.260 people and just be able to do that and that's 00:49:35.260 --> 00:49:38.320 why a lot of people they come up to me like i 00:49:38.320 --> 00:49:41.659 perform a lot at churches sometimes and they'll 00:49:41.659 --> 00:49:43.570 come up to me I didn't even know you were a Christian. 00:49:43.769 --> 00:49:46.409 I didn't even know you were like Jesus. I'm like, 00:49:46.469 --> 00:49:50.309 they don't know anything about you until they 00:49:50.309 --> 00:49:54.269 find out who you are. And it's just, you know, 00:49:54.269 --> 00:49:57.110 I try to tell them that it's, you got to get 00:49:57.110 --> 00:49:59.869 to know somebody. And it's not just by Facebook. 00:50:00.050 --> 00:50:02.769 I mean, it's just hang out with them, you know, 00:50:02.789 --> 00:50:07.050 just, you know. And I agree. But again, we're 00:50:07.050 --> 00:50:11.230 tiptoeing into an area of how we're taking care 00:50:11.230 --> 00:50:13.710 of our youth and our children. Because when I 00:50:13.710 --> 00:50:18.750 left the college in 1983, the video sensation 00:50:18.750 --> 00:50:24.289 was something called Pong. That's right. And 00:50:24.289 --> 00:50:28.369 then the next thing I know, my brother has an 00:50:28.369 --> 00:50:31.469 Atari. And then it's Nintendo. And then you have 00:50:31.469 --> 00:50:34.889 the game rooms. Everything involved. And today 00:50:34.889 --> 00:50:40.670 we find ourselves... Here, take that and go over 00:50:40.670 --> 00:50:43.809 there. I'm busy. I'm busy. I'm busy. Mom's dad. 00:50:43.909 --> 00:50:45.949 We're busy over here. So here, here, this has 00:50:45.949 --> 00:50:48.329 become the portal to the world, to children. 00:50:48.530 --> 00:50:51.050 It has become the babysitter. It has become their 00:50:51.050 --> 00:50:57.429 friend, their AI bestie. And so there's a disconnect 00:50:57.429 --> 00:51:01.909 there. There's no human touch. And the child's 00:51:01.909 --> 00:51:04.409 brain just keeps taking all this electrical pulses 00:51:04.409 --> 00:51:06.929 and data into their brain, but there's no human 00:51:06.929 --> 00:51:10.030 touch. And so you're getting a generation of 00:51:10.030 --> 00:51:12.969 folks that have no social skills. They don't 00:51:12.969 --> 00:51:15.590 know how to say hello. They don't know how to 00:51:15.590 --> 00:51:17.710 say, I'm leaving. Goodbye. See you tomorrow, 00:51:17.949 --> 00:51:19.960 next week. They don't know. what it is to say 00:51:19.960 --> 00:51:23.239 please or thank you and so we're gonna have to 00:51:23.239 --> 00:51:26.320 we're gonna have to find a solution to dealing 00:51:26.320 --> 00:51:29.019 with that type of new communication challenge 00:51:29.019 --> 00:51:31.480 i think that we need to first of all acknowledge 00:51:31.480 --> 00:51:33.719 that it happens right so i had a conversation 00:51:33.719 --> 00:51:36.619 and i got a little offended yesterday uh with 00:51:36.619 --> 00:51:38.960 a friend of mine because he's like i said you 00:51:38.960 --> 00:51:42.079 know what i decided um i'm gonna go ahead and 00:51:42.079 --> 00:51:46.199 go back to cable television so i stopped um with 00:51:46.199 --> 00:51:47.980 cable, with television, because I didn't want 00:51:47.980 --> 00:51:50.300 to watch the news anymore. It was after Uvalde. 00:51:51.059 --> 00:51:53.760 And it was too much for me. I remember I could, 00:51:53.820 --> 00:51:56.340 I've never been so affected by anything. We see 00:51:56.340 --> 00:51:58.380 things and, you know, you feel bad when you see 00:51:58.380 --> 00:51:59.800 things that happen to children. Just came too 00:51:59.800 --> 00:52:02.059 close to home. Oh my gosh. I can't tell you how 00:52:02.059 --> 00:52:05.300 much I tried to get there. I wanted to, Uvalde's 00:52:05.300 --> 00:52:07.719 not far from us. You know, we used to play, I 00:52:07.719 --> 00:52:09.300 went to Southwest High School. So that was one 00:52:09.300 --> 00:52:11.420 of the teams that we played. We used to go on 00:52:11.420 --> 00:52:14.170 the bus, you know, with the band. It's not that 00:52:14.170 --> 00:52:16.849 far. I could have gone. I just couldn't get, 00:52:16.909 --> 00:52:19.610 I couldn't go. I couldn't. And then I kept seeing 00:52:19.610 --> 00:52:21.869 it and then I'm just crying all the time. And 00:52:21.869 --> 00:52:23.989 I went to a pretty dark place and I'm like, what 00:52:23.989 --> 00:52:26.190 is wrong with me? What is happening? It's like 00:52:26.190 --> 00:52:28.730 you said, just hearing it constantly. And I was 00:52:28.730 --> 00:52:31.269 secondary trauma. Oh my gosh. It was terrible. 00:52:31.409 --> 00:52:33.610 I couldn't do it. And I just said, we're done. 00:52:33.730 --> 00:52:35.849 I called, I said, turn this off. What do I owe 00:52:35.849 --> 00:52:38.469 you? I'm done. I can't do this anymore. So I 00:52:38.469 --> 00:52:42.210 said, I'll stream. So that way I can choose what 00:52:42.210 --> 00:52:45.940 I'm going to watch. pick up and watch a few things 00:52:45.940 --> 00:52:49.079 on on uh social media then i'm like oh okay now 00:52:49.079 --> 00:52:51.500 i can go and go to apple news and do those type 00:52:51.500 --> 00:52:53.980 of things but yes i decided that i wanted to 00:52:53.980 --> 00:52:55.860 go ahead and get go back to television because 00:52:55.860 --> 00:52:58.340 now the kids are streaming and we've got these 00:52:58.340 --> 00:53:00.420 youtube things so i'm raising my grandchildren 00:53:00.420 --> 00:53:02.900 both the boys are autistic so their little brains 00:53:02.900 --> 00:53:05.599 take everything and they're both very different 00:53:05.599 --> 00:53:08.059 on the spectrum they're not the same um i've 00:53:08.059 --> 00:53:12.329 got a little boy who One of his classmates, he's 00:53:12.329 --> 00:53:16.309 eight, and said he's kind of crazy, right? And 00:53:16.309 --> 00:53:18.309 you were talking about outside the box, Judge. 00:53:19.550 --> 00:53:23.670 So I did that to his dad. I said, no, you don't 00:53:23.670 --> 00:53:25.750 say that. No, you don't do that. I did that because 00:53:25.750 --> 00:53:27.170 that wasn't like, no, you don't do that. You 00:53:27.170 --> 00:53:29.929 don't say that. And it took my oldest son to 00:53:29.929 --> 00:53:32.190 say to me, Mom, why do you do that? Why do you 00:53:32.190 --> 00:53:34.969 tell him he can't do something? I said, because 00:53:34.969 --> 00:53:37.969 that's not the way we do things. He said, that's 00:53:37.969 --> 00:53:40.880 the way he does things. And I mean, Nico was 00:53:40.880 --> 00:53:43.559 probably about 12 years old when he said it to 00:53:43.559 --> 00:53:46.559 me. But I mean, so yeah, I listened to your kids 00:53:46.559 --> 00:53:49.199 because I thought it was the oddest thing. So 00:53:49.199 --> 00:53:51.380 we, my daddy would take them fishing, right? 00:53:51.480 --> 00:53:53.679 And they lived up by Bronic Lake and he'd take 00:53:53.679 --> 00:53:55.820 them and he would wake up and he's like, grandpa. 00:53:56.460 --> 00:53:58.400 Can I go catch a fish? And he's like, go ahead. 00:53:58.579 --> 00:54:00.980 So daddy would put the pole holders, right? And 00:54:00.980 --> 00:54:03.159 he'd go and he would look at them and he'd grab 00:54:03.159 --> 00:54:05.579 one every single time he pulled a fish. Oh, wow. 00:54:05.699 --> 00:54:07.840 Every single time. I mean, there would be no 00:54:07.840 --> 00:54:09.739 bites. Nobody was catching. It might not have 00:54:09.739 --> 00:54:11.559 been a take home fish, but he always pulled a 00:54:11.559 --> 00:54:13.739 fish. Wow. And then I told him, well, you don't 00:54:13.739 --> 00:54:16.260 always get to. catch a fish all the time. I was 00:54:16.260 --> 00:54:18.320 like, what do you mean? That's not been my experience. 00:54:18.539 --> 00:54:22.579 But after I spoke to him, yes, after I spoke 00:54:22.579 --> 00:54:24.480 to him, guess what happened? He didn't catch 00:54:24.480 --> 00:54:28.139 a fish anymore. So it's you. It's me. It's my 00:54:28.139 --> 00:54:31.619 fault. And so as parents, we don't always do 00:54:31.619 --> 00:54:34.800 the right things. We try our best. Or we'll miss 00:54:34.800 --> 00:54:38.099 the mark. Yeah, we do. And it happens. And so 00:54:38.099 --> 00:54:41.340 I think as parents, so I sat at a table one time. 00:54:41.380 --> 00:54:44.059 It was a high school reunion. everybody's talking 00:54:44.059 --> 00:54:45.579 about their kids and how great their kids were. 00:54:45.760 --> 00:54:48.179 And I was like, oh, not mine. I said, I got the 00:54:48.179 --> 00:54:50.079 devil's children. I said, those kids are definitely 00:54:50.079 --> 00:54:51.679 nuts, right? Because they're in puberty, right? 00:54:51.920 --> 00:54:54.079 It was just like those teenage years and everybody's 00:54:54.079 --> 00:54:56.559 like, oh my God, like, did you hear her? I was 00:54:56.559 --> 00:54:59.679 like, yes, did you? It's the truth. It was like, 00:54:59.760 --> 00:55:03.820 I love them. I don't like them. I don't. Sometimes 00:55:03.820 --> 00:55:05.960 I can say some other things, but I was like, 00:55:05.960 --> 00:55:07.699 then eventually I ended up finding out it's the 00:55:07.699 --> 00:55:10.079 behavior I don't like. And it's, you know, those 00:55:10.079 --> 00:55:12.000 kinds of things. Can we put Yvette in your program? 00:55:12.780 --> 00:55:15.880 I was going to say, you have this mindfulness 00:55:15.880 --> 00:55:18.900 about how you want to approach those boys. And 00:55:18.900 --> 00:55:22.420 you're one in a million. And so most kids nowadays 00:55:22.420 --> 00:55:26.199 don't have a mindfulness in their parents. And 00:55:26.199 --> 00:55:28.519 they're losing a lot in the way of socialization. 00:55:28.820 --> 00:55:31.219 They're losing a lot in the way of goal setting. 00:55:33.599 --> 00:55:36.980 Nowadays, parents, to just keep the child quiet 00:55:36.980 --> 00:55:38.679 or occupied, will give them something right away. 00:55:39.119 --> 00:55:41.480 And that child will then grow up believing they're 00:55:41.480 --> 00:55:43.679 entitled to things. And it comes a culture of 00:55:43.679 --> 00:55:47.900 entitlement, right? This is the eighth place 00:55:47.900 --> 00:55:50.800 trophy generation, right? When I was growing 00:55:50.800 --> 00:55:52.719 up, you only got a trophy if you got first place. 00:55:52.900 --> 00:55:55.739 You got ribbons. You got ribbons for second and 00:55:55.739 --> 00:55:57.840 third place. And then after that, guess what? 00:55:57.900 --> 00:56:00.119 You got nothing. Go get some chili, you know, 00:56:00.119 --> 00:56:04.079 some chili pie. That's what you get. But now 00:56:04.079 --> 00:56:07.760 everybody gets a trophy. So we have people thinking, 00:56:07.800 --> 00:56:11.369 well, Where's my trophy? You know? And so there's 00:56:11.369 --> 00:56:14.469 that entitlement. You can't tell anybody you're 00:56:14.469 --> 00:56:16.929 late because they are offended that you pointed 00:56:16.929 --> 00:56:19.349 out that they're late. You can't tell somebody 00:56:19.349 --> 00:56:23.389 that you're wrong on this. Whether it's an opinion 00:56:23.389 --> 00:56:25.269 or whether it's they didn't know the case law 00:56:25.269 --> 00:56:28.269 or they didn't know a procedure. Because they're 00:56:28.269 --> 00:56:31.190 offended that you corrected them. Or that they 00:56:31.190 --> 00:56:33.650 don't know how to act in a courtroom. Yeah, all 00:56:33.650 --> 00:56:36.849 of that. All of that. And I will say that. And 00:56:36.849 --> 00:56:38.269 just to get back to that, I'm so sorry, Judge, 00:56:38.309 --> 00:56:40.190 because I know we wanted to talk about court 00:56:40.190 --> 00:56:41.570 a little bit. And that's really what this is 00:56:41.570 --> 00:56:43.750 about so that we can all get to know. First, 00:56:43.789 --> 00:56:45.789 know you as a person, but also understand a little 00:56:45.789 --> 00:56:47.949 bit about the courtroom. Because we don't understand 00:56:47.949 --> 00:56:50.510 anything. We don't know how to get involved with. 00:56:50.860 --> 00:56:54.239 Like, who chooses somebody that is a candidate 00:56:54.239 --> 00:56:56.679 for the complejo court? Those type of things. 00:56:56.820 --> 00:56:59.719 So the unfortunate part of the complejo court 00:56:59.719 --> 00:57:04.179 is that you must have been arrested for an allegation 00:57:04.179 --> 00:57:05.900 of family violence. And you have to have been 00:57:05.900 --> 00:57:08.980 assigned to our courtroom to have the best chance 00:57:08.980 --> 00:57:11.820 of coming in. Now, other courts can refer your 00:57:11.820 --> 00:57:16.460 case to us. The other part of this scientifically... 00:57:16.889 --> 00:57:20.429 design court is that the science tells us that 00:57:20.429 --> 00:57:23.889 you cannot order somebody or force somebody to 00:57:23.889 --> 00:57:27.530 do the program. If they don't have the wherewithal 00:57:27.530 --> 00:57:29.829 about themselves to say to you, I need help. 00:57:30.050 --> 00:57:33.150 My behavior is not appropriate. I have an addiction 00:57:33.150 --> 00:57:36.110 problem. Then they're not going to do well being 00:57:36.110 --> 00:57:37.989 ordered and forced to do something they're not 00:57:37.989 --> 00:57:40.230 ready to accept. They're not ready to embrace. 00:57:40.570 --> 00:57:43.750 So it has to be voluntary. And then once they 00:57:43.750 --> 00:57:46.650 come in voluntarily and say, I want to do Reflejo 00:57:46.650 --> 00:57:48.570 Court, I'm a first -time offender, I have a substance 00:57:48.570 --> 00:57:52.449 abuse issue, they get screened for history, for 00:57:52.449 --> 00:57:56.369 how frequent this problem is, and then they get 00:57:56.369 --> 00:58:00.309 staffed. The team at Reflejo Court is a multidisciplinary 00:58:00.309 --> 00:58:03.110 team, and they meet once a week to review cases 00:58:03.110 --> 00:58:05.510 and to review the progress or lack thereof of 00:58:05.510 --> 00:58:09.510 the people already in the program. So that multidisciplinary 00:58:09.510 --> 00:58:13.059 team includes the judge. The court director and 00:58:13.059 --> 00:58:15.639 administrative assistant, the curriculum instructors, 00:58:16.099 --> 00:58:19.079 probation, the public defender, the prosecutor, 00:58:19.420 --> 00:58:21.920 the therapist for drug treatment, the therapist 00:58:21.920 --> 00:58:24.480 for mental health issues, the medication supervision 00:58:24.480 --> 00:58:28.119 officer, the deputy. OK, so it's like 12 people 00:58:28.119 --> 00:58:31.159 and we all review each participant. Right. Either 00:58:31.159 --> 00:58:32.539 they're coming into the court and if they're 00:58:32.539 --> 00:58:33.960 in the court, are they doing well or are they 00:58:33.960 --> 00:58:36.920 doing poorly? And what do we do to adjust to 00:58:36.920 --> 00:58:39.519 increase their chances of succeeding in graduating? 00:58:39.599 --> 00:58:43.400 That's a weekly thing. So that is a reflejo cord 00:58:43.400 --> 00:58:45.500 in a nutshell, right? And like I said, they get 00:58:45.500 --> 00:58:47.300 education, they get trauma treatment, they get 00:58:47.300 --> 00:58:50.280 sobriety, they get jobs, they get housing, and 00:58:50.280 --> 00:58:52.599 they have to show us long -term sobriety for 00:58:52.599 --> 00:58:55.179 at least a year. It's actually harder than probation 00:58:55.179 --> 00:58:57.159 because they have to report more frequently or 00:58:57.159 --> 00:58:59.139 they have to do more for us than they would do 00:58:59.139 --> 00:59:01.639 on a regular probation case. But nice because 00:59:01.639 --> 00:59:04.780 at the end, there's a prize that's worth winning. 00:59:04.880 --> 00:59:06.440 With probation, you're just going to get it over 00:59:06.440 --> 00:59:09.409 with. But with this, if you do well... Yes, the 00:59:09.409 --> 00:59:11.789 case is dismissed and expunged. So I want to 00:59:11.789 --> 00:59:14.150 touch on something, Judge, and I hope that you're 00:59:14.150 --> 00:59:17.780 okay with me bringing this up. You heard like 00:59:17.780 --> 00:59:20.320 somebody, because we talked about trolls and 00:59:20.320 --> 00:59:22.280 we talked about all that stuff that happens on 00:59:22.280 --> 00:59:25.139 social media. My brother calls them cyber bullies. 00:59:26.039 --> 00:59:28.719 Keyboard warriors. Keyboard cowards. Yeah, yeah. 00:59:29.039 --> 00:59:32.320 If you ask me. And because, you know, we grew 00:59:32.320 --> 00:59:34.260 up in an era where, okay, you had something to 00:59:34.260 --> 00:59:36.500 say. They're brave behind a keyboard. No, you 00:59:36.500 --> 00:59:39.559 did this, right? Yeah. You got that. Where's 00:59:39.559 --> 00:59:41.260 the eight ball? Ask the eight ball question. 00:59:41.619 --> 00:59:44.639 Okay, four times. All right. All right. Try again. 00:59:46.219 --> 00:59:49.980 Ask again. They're keyboard cowards. Yeah, absolutely. 00:59:50.360 --> 00:59:52.559 Anybody can be tough behind a keyboard, right? 00:59:52.699 --> 00:59:55.820 And it's really bad. And then you've got like 00:59:55.820 --> 00:59:58.699 the older generation that thinks it's screaming. 00:59:58.699 --> 01:00:00.480 They don't even know what a keyboard is. And 01:00:00.480 --> 01:00:02.099 you've got them and they like to scream and yell 01:00:02.099 --> 01:00:03.539 at you, right? And I remember when I did real 01:00:03.539 --> 01:00:05.360 estate and I had the first one. At least I'd 01:00:05.360 --> 01:00:07.119 rather have them tell me that because at least 01:00:07.119 --> 01:00:08.880 I know how you feel. Yeah, at least I know how 01:00:08.880 --> 01:00:11.420 you feel. I'll stay away from you. I got you. 01:00:12.679 --> 01:00:16.199 They're a very different world. through a lot 01:00:16.199 --> 01:00:17.900 judge and I know there's a lot of people that 01:00:17.900 --> 01:00:21.599 will say things about whether it's your appearance 01:00:21.599 --> 01:00:25.449 that you look different That they don't have 01:00:25.449 --> 01:00:27.329 to know a thing about you, your court or anything 01:00:27.329 --> 01:00:29.170 like that. But we're just going to say whatever 01:00:29.170 --> 01:00:33.389 we want to say behind this. But now I want to 01:00:33.389 --> 01:00:35.929 get back to talking about that sense of entitlement 01:00:35.929 --> 01:00:38.449 and talking about the new generation and talking 01:00:38.449 --> 01:00:41.210 about the sensitivity. I saw a comment where 01:00:41.210 --> 01:00:43.869 somebody said, oh, I heard her yelling at somebody 01:00:43.869 --> 01:00:47.090 in her courtroom. And these are people that are 01:00:47.090 --> 01:00:50.130 traumatized. Well, yeah, they're traumatized, 01:00:50.130 --> 01:00:52.010 but I think we've all been yelled at. I think 01:00:52.010 --> 01:00:54.309 we've all been traumatized, right? And we've 01:00:54.309 --> 01:00:58.250 all been reprimanded. I will tell you, my kids 01:00:58.250 --> 01:01:02.130 know. They'll be like, yeah, what would your 01:01:02.130 --> 01:01:03.750 mom do? They're like, oh, you don't want to mess 01:01:03.750 --> 01:01:06.210 with my mom. There's got to be a respect level 01:01:06.210 --> 01:01:08.590 there. Well, and there's a ramp up. I'm going 01:01:08.590 --> 01:01:12.059 to say just about every time that I have. met 01:01:12.059 --> 01:01:14.940 someone's energy with their energy, there's a 01:01:14.940 --> 01:01:17.480 ramp up to that response for me. They've either 01:01:17.480 --> 01:01:20.699 stood there and insulted me, like to my face. 01:01:21.340 --> 01:01:24.940 They have lied on the record. They come in not 01:01:24.940 --> 01:01:28.699 prepared. They come in two hours late. You know, 01:01:28.699 --> 01:01:32.239 so there's always a ramp up. And then they don't 01:01:32.239 --> 01:01:35.340 like that I pointed out and it escalates. And 01:01:35.340 --> 01:01:38.050 so... Or, you know, it's not always a lawyer. 01:01:38.110 --> 01:01:41.369 It's the defendant that is, you know, not acting 01:01:41.369 --> 01:01:44.869 within the parameters that they should be acting 01:01:44.869 --> 01:01:49.030 in a court of law. They come in in pajamas and 01:01:49.030 --> 01:01:51.510 animal slippers or they want to come in in a 01:01:51.510 --> 01:01:54.469 tank top. No way. Or, you know. Because you know 01:01:54.469 --> 01:01:55.570 that it don't matter if you've been in court 01:01:55.570 --> 01:01:57.309 for whatever reason, you go with your Sunday's 01:01:57.309 --> 01:01:59.670 best. And their response is, well, in the other 01:01:59.670 --> 01:02:01.429 court, I said, well, you're not in another court. 01:02:02.000 --> 01:02:04.000 And then that sets the tone for, oh, you think 01:02:04.000 --> 01:02:05.719 you're better than other courts. No, we just 01:02:05.719 --> 01:02:07.539 have rules in this court that are different than 01:02:07.539 --> 01:02:10.760 other courts. And again, we have to think about 01:02:10.760 --> 01:02:14.380 the population that this court services. It is 01:02:14.380 --> 01:02:16.619 a population that's been accused at some level 01:02:16.619 --> 01:02:18.820 of committing family violence. Think about that 01:02:18.820 --> 01:02:22.380 personality type. Absolutely. Right? Now, yes, 01:02:22.460 --> 01:02:24.440 everyone gets due process. You're innocent unless 01:02:24.440 --> 01:02:28.969 proven guilty. But again, there's a certain undercurrent 01:02:28.969 --> 01:02:31.670 of how you ended up in this court. There was 01:02:31.670 --> 01:02:33.650 a certain type of allegation made against you. 01:02:33.690 --> 01:02:36.289 This is not a shoplifting allegation. This is 01:02:36.289 --> 01:02:39.510 not a loitering allegation. And you said for 01:02:39.510 --> 01:02:42.510 the police to arrest you, that means that the 01:02:42.510 --> 01:02:43.909 cops don't just come to your house to arrest 01:02:43.909 --> 01:02:47.429 you because I said that you hit me and they usually 01:02:47.429 --> 01:02:49.530 show up and they have to have a reason to arrest 01:02:49.530 --> 01:02:52.630 you. They have their own markers, their own factors 01:02:52.630 --> 01:02:56.239 they have to consider in deciding. one their 01:02:56.239 --> 01:02:59.139 approach sometimes you know they never go in 01:02:59.139 --> 01:03:01.380 there saying i'm going to arrest somebody no 01:03:01.380 --> 01:03:03.460 their approach is get as much information as 01:03:03.460 --> 01:03:06.539 possible assess is there a dangerous situation 01:03:06.539 --> 01:03:09.300 here do these individuals need to be separated 01:03:09.300 --> 01:03:12.719 to what level do they need to be separated and 01:03:12.719 --> 01:03:15.599 is does this allegation that we weren't here 01:03:15.599 --> 01:03:18.139 for in most cases i have to rely on other witnesses 01:03:18.139 --> 01:03:21.900 to tell me what happened as an officer do I have 01:03:21.900 --> 01:03:24.039 a responsibility to take someone into custody 01:03:24.039 --> 01:03:27.559 and keep someone else safe? An officer has to 01:03:27.559 --> 01:03:30.380 decide all that before they even come into our 01:03:30.380 --> 01:03:33.400 court, right? And between the officer and the 01:03:33.400 --> 01:03:35.119 court is the district attorney's office who's 01:03:35.119 --> 01:03:37.619 going to decide whether to go forward with a 01:03:37.619 --> 01:03:40.320 criminal charge or not. The arrest doesn't automatically 01:03:40.320 --> 01:03:43.519 mean you did something wrong. It's a measure 01:03:43.519 --> 01:03:46.159 that the officer took at that moment in time 01:03:46.159 --> 01:03:49.440 to take control of the situation. And the assumption 01:03:49.440 --> 01:03:51.739 in this country is that even if you were taken 01:03:51.739 --> 01:03:54.820 into custody, you're deemed innocent unless it's 01:03:54.820 --> 01:03:56.800 proven guilty or you take a guilty plea in a 01:03:56.800 --> 01:03:59.400 court of law. And so those are challenges that 01:03:59.400 --> 01:04:02.559 we have to address when preparing to do a trial, 01:04:02.679 --> 01:04:05.179 because as a juror, I need to know if you're 01:04:05.179 --> 01:04:06.940 going to hold that arrest against this defendant, 01:04:07.059 --> 01:04:09.239 because if you are, you already have a bias against 01:04:09.239 --> 01:04:11.619 them. You're already thinking that this individual 01:04:11.619 --> 01:04:13.760 is guilty without even having gone to trial on 01:04:13.760 --> 01:04:16.960 him. So, I mean, it's so many moving parts in 01:04:16.960 --> 01:04:20.159 trying to manage how the courts run from, you 01:04:20.159 --> 01:04:21.920 know, dealing with someone for the first time 01:04:21.920 --> 01:04:24.920 in our court, getting frustrated because their 01:04:24.920 --> 01:04:26.840 case isn't moving along and it's still in the 01:04:26.840 --> 01:04:28.420 pre -file stage and we're going to reset you 01:04:28.420 --> 01:04:31.710 for 90 days. Well, if you took the day off. If 01:04:31.710 --> 01:04:34.050 you lost your job because of this arrest, if 01:04:34.050 --> 01:04:35.869 you can't find a job because you have an open 01:04:35.869 --> 01:04:38.650 family violence court case in our court, you're 01:04:38.650 --> 01:04:41.349 really frustrated and oftentimes take it out 01:04:41.349 --> 01:04:44.170 on the staff there, on the deputy, on the judge. 01:04:44.389 --> 01:04:46.610 Does it make it appropriate? No, but I understand 01:04:46.610 --> 01:04:48.329 your frustration, but that doesn't mean I give 01:04:48.329 --> 01:04:51.829 you a pass on your behavior. And so those are 01:04:51.829 --> 01:04:54.489 kind of like the daily challenges of dealing 01:04:54.489 --> 01:04:57.150 with this particular type of case. Yeah. And 01:04:57.150 --> 01:05:01.519 I think that for me, I think that. if they don't 01:05:01.519 --> 01:05:03.980 walk in there and you don't reprimand them, right? 01:05:04.039 --> 01:05:05.619 Just like me as a parent, like if I'm like, well, 01:05:05.780 --> 01:05:07.400 I don't want you doing that no more. Don't do 01:05:07.400 --> 01:05:09.880 that no more, okay? You know, I don't say that 01:05:09.880 --> 01:05:11.739 to my kids, right? I've got to be strong and 01:05:11.739 --> 01:05:12.900 I've got to, because I don't want them to do 01:05:12.900 --> 01:05:14.800 it again. Well, and you know, one of the things 01:05:14.800 --> 01:05:16.780 that I did before I became a lawyer was I was 01:05:16.780 --> 01:05:18.519 a probation officer and there's a certain model 01:05:18.519 --> 01:05:22.400 that you approach this populations with and it's 01:05:22.400 --> 01:05:24.179 usually a triangle, right? One is rehabilitation, 01:05:24.719 --> 01:05:27.219 the other is accountability and the other one's 01:05:27.219 --> 01:05:29.860 community safety. And I still use that model 01:05:29.860 --> 01:05:32.420 as a framework in some of the decisions that 01:05:32.420 --> 01:05:36.960 I make. And so for me, when we were seeing the 01:05:36.960 --> 01:05:39.119 consumer, the defendant in our office, we were 01:05:39.119 --> 01:05:41.960 trained to make sure that this is not supposed 01:05:41.960 --> 01:05:44.940 to be a field trip for this individual. This 01:05:44.940 --> 01:05:47.780 is not a therapeutic setting by any measure. 01:05:47.840 --> 01:05:51.039 This is still a court of law. And the trauma 01:05:51.039 --> 01:05:54.530 part of it is used in reflejo court. Not with 01:05:54.530 --> 01:05:57.110 the general population, although we use those 01:05:57.110 --> 01:06:00.730 tools to assess volatile situations in the courtroom. 01:06:00.969 --> 01:06:03.130 So you were part of two different courts then. 01:06:03.170 --> 01:06:06.090 I thought it was just Reflejo Court. No. We have 01:06:06.090 --> 01:06:09.250 a general family violence court. That's 13. And 01:06:09.250 --> 01:06:11.429 then within that, we have a specialized program, 01:06:11.530 --> 01:06:13.150 which is Reflejo Court for first -time offenders. 01:06:13.949 --> 01:06:16.530 that want the help. I see. Okay. And that want 01:06:16.530 --> 01:06:19.769 to get sober. Okay. So, but the general population 01:06:19.769 --> 01:06:22.090 is anybody charged with family violence at the 01:06:22.090 --> 01:06:25.090 misdemeanor level that landed in 13 because they 01:06:25.090 --> 01:06:28.110 didn't land in seven, you know? So that's, and 01:06:28.110 --> 01:06:30.949 so the trauma component is applicable for a federal 01:06:30.949 --> 01:06:34.139 court. but not for the general, right? Because 01:06:34.139 --> 01:06:36.300 I mean - I mean, I'm educated on it. I know what 01:06:36.300 --> 01:06:38.880 to look for and how to deal with folks, but it's 01:06:38.880 --> 01:06:42.639 not mandated that the general population be a 01:06:42.639 --> 01:06:45.880 little bit, that we be more mindful of them than 01:06:45.880 --> 01:06:48.519 the folks in the federal court. How long have 01:06:48.519 --> 01:06:51.139 you been a judge now? I just finished seven years 01:06:51.139 --> 01:06:53.320 in December. I'm in my eighth year. Congratulations. 01:06:53.579 --> 01:06:55.440 Thank you. Thank you. And what is the protocol 01:06:55.440 --> 01:06:59.139 to be a lawyer? Well, it just depends at what 01:06:59.139 --> 01:07:02.239 level of the judiciary you want to serve. For 01:07:02.239 --> 01:07:04.820 a justice of the peace, you don't need to be 01:07:04.820 --> 01:07:08.440 a lawyer. And the education level is in flux. 01:07:08.739 --> 01:07:10.780 There are justices of the peace across the state 01:07:10.780 --> 01:07:13.500 that don't even have a high school diploma. Wow. 01:07:13.500 --> 01:07:17.179 Now, as you move up the chain of command, for 01:07:17.179 --> 01:07:19.380 lack of better words, county courts of law, you 01:07:19.380 --> 01:07:21.739 have to have been a lawyer at least five years 01:07:21.739 --> 01:07:24.960 before you can run to that position. Then you 01:07:24.960 --> 01:07:27.119 have district courts. Right. And you have to 01:07:27.119 --> 01:07:29.780 be, you know, the qualifications increase as 01:07:29.780 --> 01:07:33.119 you move up. So county courts of law deal with 01:07:33.119 --> 01:07:36.469 misdemeanors. District courts deal with civil 01:07:36.469 --> 01:07:39.829 matters and with felonies, okay? And then you 01:07:39.829 --> 01:07:41.650 have the appellate -level courts before you get 01:07:41.650 --> 01:07:43.530 to the Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin and 01:07:43.530 --> 01:07:46.050 the Texas Supreme Court. Now, you have different 01:07:46.050 --> 01:07:48.590 branches of the judiciary. You have the judges 01:07:48.590 --> 01:07:50.449 that work for the city of San Antonio, the municipal 01:07:50.449 --> 01:07:52.849 court judges, right? The ones downtown on Frio. 01:07:53.130 --> 01:07:55.969 That's a whole new separate set of judges, right, 01:07:56.030 --> 01:07:58.579 that work for the city. All right. Then you have 01:07:58.579 --> 01:08:01.340 judges that hear immigration cases. Those are 01:08:01.340 --> 01:08:03.539 federal judges. And you have federal courts, 01:08:03.579 --> 01:08:05.980 the Fifth Circuit. And so you have different 01:08:05.980 --> 01:08:08.019 branches to the tree we know as the judiciary. 01:08:08.099 --> 01:08:10.500 Do you have any aspirations to move up? Nope. 01:08:10.760 --> 01:08:13.900 I have no. I'm in my 60s. Not supreme or anything? 01:08:13.900 --> 01:08:16.699 I'm in my 60s. My aspiration is to retire at 01:08:16.699 --> 01:08:19.699 65. That's my aspiration. Thank you, Jesus. I 01:08:19.699 --> 01:08:23.750 don't see you doing it. But I think. I think, 01:08:23.750 --> 01:08:26.930 Judge, that you're such an amazing person, I 01:08:26.930 --> 01:08:30.390 think. And Judge, I saw you when you were running. 01:08:30.489 --> 01:08:34.850 I remember how nasty people were to you. I was 01:08:34.850 --> 01:08:38.189 just observing. We would be at the same events. 01:08:38.350 --> 01:08:43.050 It was mainly women that were nasty to you. I 01:08:43.050 --> 01:08:45.750 remember a few times it was Republican women. 01:08:46.630 --> 01:08:50.130 I remember I've gone through now. Then afterwards, 01:08:50.250 --> 01:08:53.189 once you were a judge, then it was men. that 01:08:53.189 --> 01:08:55.890 were so uh threatened by you and they would try 01:08:55.890 --> 01:08:59.890 to to unfortunately i've been uh being with la 01:08:59.890 --> 01:09:02.149 prenta i've actually gotten the phone calls and 01:09:02.149 --> 01:09:04.149 i've gotten people that have tried to undermine 01:09:04.149 --> 01:09:07.729 you or tear you up And I've always made it very 01:09:07.729 --> 01:09:10.529 clear to everybody that Judge Rosie is a friend 01:09:10.529 --> 01:09:14.270 of La Prensa. And before you were a judge, you 01:09:14.270 --> 01:09:16.829 were with us. This is Manguera Memories. And 01:09:16.829 --> 01:09:20.609 one of the things that you did, I'm glad I wanted 01:09:20.609 --> 01:09:22.829 to share this with you. The judge brought this 01:09:22.829 --> 01:09:25.909 manuscript for me to read through. And I just 01:09:25.909 --> 01:09:27.369 loved it. And I was like, OK, we're going to 01:09:27.369 --> 01:09:29.189 feature this every week. And we're going to have 01:09:29.189 --> 01:09:32.680 this special column for her. And you do get to 01:09:32.680 --> 01:09:35.180 know the judge on a whole other level through 01:09:35.180 --> 01:09:37.520 this because these are very personal memoirs 01:09:37.520 --> 01:09:39.920 of her life growing up in Brownsville. And we're 01:09:39.920 --> 01:09:42.060 not from Brownsville. So it does give you a lot 01:09:42.060 --> 01:09:45.720 of perspective. But I tell everybody, like, she 01:09:45.720 --> 01:09:48.600 was a friend of La Prensa. She didn't ask for 01:09:48.600 --> 01:09:50.520 compensation. As a matter of fact, she said, 01:09:50.640 --> 01:09:53.020 I would love for you to publish this if you want 01:09:53.020 --> 01:09:54.859 to make this into a book. And all the proceeds 01:09:54.859 --> 01:09:58.020 are yours. From scholarship, yeah. And so that 01:09:58.020 --> 01:10:01.649 was huge. I mean, who does that? Right? Who doesn't? 01:10:01.649 --> 01:10:03.750 What's in it for me? Look at me. Look what I 01:10:03.750 --> 01:10:06.670 can do. Yeah, I'm more about cash. Yeah. Cashola. 01:10:06.729 --> 01:10:08.350 He is. You don't even know how much I had to 01:10:08.350 --> 01:10:10.409 pay him to be here. Oh, my goodness. I'm just 01:10:10.409 --> 01:10:13.289 kidding. Chilaquiles, please. Chilaquiles. If 01:10:13.289 --> 01:10:16.729 he was lucky. Yeah. Interestingly enough, I never 01:10:16.729 --> 01:10:18.289 heard the word chilaquiles until I moved here. 01:10:18.430 --> 01:10:20.270 Is that right? I've never seen chilaquiles on 01:10:20.270 --> 01:10:21.850 the menu. I didn't know what that was. I used 01:10:21.850 --> 01:10:24.829 to do migas. Migas. See, I know it as migas, 01:10:24.829 --> 01:10:28.890 and my wife calls it chilaquiles. She loves chilaquiles. 01:10:31.260 --> 01:10:34.399 Well, the other phenomenon moving here was that, 01:10:34.420 --> 01:10:37.539 you know, I was not very tuned into Tex -Mex 01:10:37.539 --> 01:10:41.399 food. And so border food is Mexico. Yeah. Okay. 01:10:41.560 --> 01:10:44.220 And so you didn't see yellow cheese on everything. 01:10:44.659 --> 01:10:47.039 Right. And you get to San Antonio and it's yellow 01:10:47.039 --> 01:10:49.840 cheese on everything. And I'm like, what the 01:10:49.840 --> 01:10:51.739 hell? I didn't even know what white cheese was 01:10:51.739 --> 01:10:54.319 until I became an adult because everything was 01:10:54.319 --> 01:10:56.260 yellow. I grew up with yellow, you know, yellow. 01:10:56.279 --> 01:10:59.180 It was American cheese. Or a government -issued 01:10:59.180 --> 01:11:02.699 cheese. Oh, that was the best. The bucket. I 01:11:02.699 --> 01:11:04.699 was going to ask you because you mentioned the 01:11:04.699 --> 01:11:08.500 jury a little earlier. And, you know, I have 01:11:08.500 --> 01:11:12.840 to tell the story. My dad had, may he rest in 01:11:12.840 --> 01:11:15.380 peace, but when he was alive, he had got called 01:11:15.380 --> 01:11:20.260 for jury duty. And my dad went in there and we 01:11:20.260 --> 01:11:22.600 go, Dad, you know, he doesn't go anywhere. He's, 01:11:22.699 --> 01:11:25.659 like, real antisocial. He's, like, doesn't like 01:11:25.659 --> 01:11:30.840 people at all. The attorney asked him, what do 01:11:30.840 --> 01:11:32.600 you think about, you know, we put you in this 01:11:32.600 --> 01:11:36.239 situation, you know, if this lady took you out 01:11:36.239 --> 01:11:39.300 and decided she wanted to steal your wallet, 01:11:39.359 --> 01:11:42.500 what would you want to do to have her done? And 01:11:42.500 --> 01:11:46.170 my dad said... Shoot her in the face. Oh my goodness. 01:11:46.250 --> 01:11:48.329 I'm like, yeah, we're good. So thank you very 01:11:48.329 --> 01:11:51.750 much. We don't need you. Strike that jury. He's 01:11:51.750 --> 01:11:55.390 good to go. He didn't want to do it. He said, 01:11:55.430 --> 01:11:57.409 shoot her in the face. I had a jury one time 01:11:57.409 --> 01:12:00.569 come in and as soon as the attorney started asking 01:12:00.569 --> 01:12:02.890 him questions about their feelings about the 01:12:02.890 --> 01:12:05.029 case, the guy turns around and goes, he's guilty. 01:12:05.130 --> 01:12:08.939 I can feel it. I can feel it. He's guilty. And 01:12:08.939 --> 01:12:10.300 the attorney said, I said, thank you for your 01:12:10.300 --> 01:12:14.000 service, sir. He knew exactly what to say, didn't 01:12:14.000 --> 01:12:20.319 he? I got out just by being on the news. They 01:12:20.319 --> 01:12:23.739 said, get out of here. Really? They said, get 01:12:23.739 --> 01:12:25.119 out of here. You're going to go tell all the 01:12:25.119 --> 01:12:26.979 dirt? No, they said, no, you're good. You're 01:12:26.979 --> 01:12:30.170 good? You're good. You're good. Well, Judge, 01:12:30.470 --> 01:12:32.369 we want to thank you for your service, for your 01:12:32.369 --> 01:12:35.149 leadership and being the heart of this community. 01:12:35.210 --> 01:12:39.449 I hope that you will continue to do what you 01:12:39.449 --> 01:12:42.729 do. It's very disheartening to hear you say that 01:12:42.729 --> 01:12:44.970 you're ready to retire, but I don't see you. 01:12:44.970 --> 01:12:47.470 I see you retiring as a judge, but I don't see 01:12:47.470 --> 01:12:51.550 you retiring as serving this community. And the 01:12:51.550 --> 01:12:54.449 whole court reminds us that justice can reflect 01:12:54.449 --> 01:12:57.800 humanity. Absolutely. And humanity first, right? 01:12:57.939 --> 01:13:00.180 Yes, ma 'am. And to our listeners, if you or 01:13:00.180 --> 01:13:03.220 someone you know may qualify for Reflejo Court. 01:13:03.939 --> 01:13:07.279 Yeah, they can contact Terry Benavides at County 01:13:07.279 --> 01:13:10.359 Court 13. They just need to Google it. Or Francia 01:13:10.359 --> 01:13:14.520 Garcia at County Court 13 and ask to be reviewed 01:13:14.520 --> 01:13:16.939 for Reflejo Court. Very good. Second chances 01:13:16.939 --> 01:13:22.469 do change lives. Yes. And we believe in... higher 01:13:22.469 --> 01:13:25.489 accountability can lead to someone really, really 01:13:25.489 --> 01:13:29.710 getting redemption. This has been Let's Talk 01:13:29.710 --> 01:13:33.430 About It because your voice matters, your vote 01:13:33.430 --> 01:13:36.350 matters, and your future matters. All of it. 01:13:36.449 --> 01:13:38.729 So let's keep talking about it. Congratulations. 01:13:39.289 --> 01:13:41.710 Thank you, Clifford. Thank you. Thank you for 01:13:41.710 --> 01:13:44.350 joining us on Let's Talk About It. We appreciate 01:13:44.350 --> 01:13:46.590 you being part of the conversation and staying 01:13:46.590 --> 01:13:48.729 engaged on the issues that matter most to our 01:13:48.729 --> 01:13:52.170 community. Make sure to follow us on the La Prensa 01:13:52.170 --> 01:13:55.050 Texas website for updates and stay tuned for 01:13:55.050 --> 01:13:57.029 our next episode. We'll see you soon.