This is Let's Talk About It, the official podcast
of La Prensa, Texas, hosted by Yvette Teo and
produced by JMT Studios. This show grows from
a tradition rooted in culture, memory, and the
power of community voices. Our history told by
us in our own words. From city hall to the corner
store, from policy to personal experience, this
is where real conversations live. The overlooked.
The everyday, the resilience, the stories that
shape who we are. In English, in Espanol, and
always from the heart of our community. Not from
the sidelines and not from a distance. This is
the community speaking for itself. Welcome to
Let's Talk About It. Good morning, good afternoon,
and good evening wherever you are listening from.
This is Let's Talk About It, the official podcast
of La Parenza, Texas, powered by JMT Media. I'm
your host, Yvette Deo, and today we're bringing
you a conversation that is powerful, inspiring,
educational, and yes, we're going to have some
fun too. Yeah, maybe. Because informed communities
build stronger futures. And today we are talking
about justice, redemption, and second chances.
Today I have my co -host, comedian, community
voice, and always ready with a punchline. Yes,
I bring my own applause. Thank you very much.
And now we are honored to welcome Judge Rosie
Speedling Gonzalez, who's made national headlines
for her innovation in the courtroom. Our special
guest here today, and Judge, I want to welcome
you here to the studios and being part of Let's
Talk About It. And I'm so glad that you're here
to talk about it. Well, I'm honored to be here
with La Prensa. La Prensa and I have a long history
together. Back in 2005, I think, I was honored
by La Prensa with their Legal Justice Award.
And I'd been out maybe three, four years practicing.
Tino Duran and his family honored me, along with
some other community leadership women that night.
And that relationship with La Prensa has been
strong ever since. And you all are the voice,
la voz de la gente del pueblo. And you shine
a light on issues that are typically mainstream.
media outlet won't and um because nobody wants
to look at the problems in our communities yeah
or the solutions right correct because if we
don't talk about them problems we can't adjust
the solutions um and i know that uh tina was
really big at recognizing women that were doing
something and making changes. And if you were
just four years out the door, he saw something
a long time ago in you. And I saw that instantly
when I met you. So I think you were with La Prensa
de San Antonio when we took over with La Prensa,
Texas, and I got to meet you with the Manguera
Memories. Yes, yes, the column. The Manguera
Memories. It was a column that I would write
for La Prensa on events that took place as a
child growing up. in south texas okay and so
the title came from where we congregated as kids
yeah you know we got thrown outside at the beginning
of the day during the summer right and today
you know what if we get hungry or there's that's
right there's a go stand over there you can play
with it you can drink it you can cool down with
it go to the manguera the manguera was the you
know if you drink the manguera if you drink from
the manguera on a summer day Forget it. You had,
like, everything phlegm from third grade was
taken care of. It was taken. It's like the water
fountains at the school they had outside. If
you drank from that, you could survive COVID,
for real. Sure. You did. The bird flu, for sure.
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. You were good. Yeah, sure.
We didn't need filtered water. No. Bottle water.
Bottle water. ¿Qué es eso? Bottle water. Yeah,
okay. As we're drinking our bottled water. I'm
just kidding. So let's jump into this. Gleto,
I know that we talked a little bit about the
Flejo Court, Gleto and I, and so he had a lot
of questions. Judge, so I'm going to let Gleto
ask you some of this stuff. Okay, absolutely.
First of all, you know, like what... Let everybody
know what exactly is reflejo court. So reflejo
court, if you can imagine a subcourt, a smaller
portion of the bigger court. The big court is
Bexar County Court of Law number 13. And number
13 is one of two designated courts in Bexar County
that hear almost exclusively family violence
cases. Those are misdemeanor family violence
cases. What does that mean, misdemeanor? That
dictates the range of punishment. So on these
cases, the most the court can do in the way of
accountability and punishment is a sentence of
up to but no more than one year of incarceration
at the Bexar County Jail. In addition to jail
time, the court can also fine the defendant up
to but no more than $4 ,000. And last, if you
plead guilty or you're convicted of this offense,
you lose your Second Amendment right to bear
firearms. I call it the highest of misdemeanor
courts because you have the most to lose with
that firearm being gone. Now, when I first took
the bench in 2019, a retired judge by the name
of Al Alonso, who had started treatment courts
in Bexar County, said, you need a treatment court
in 13. Your population has some really high needs
and they pose a very high risk to the community.
And so we looked at the population and we figured
out that about 85 to 90 percent of the defendants
that were coming in through those doors were
coming in either having been arrested under the
influence of alcohol or another mind altering
substance or. The report that came in about this
alleged incident reported that the person was
under the influence of alcohol or another substance.
And so out of that universe of defendants, when
we started talking to folks, almost 100 % of
those defendants were self -disclosing that they
were adult survivors of childhood trauma. Now,
I just so happen to have a spouse that's a published
expert on trauma. And addiction. And we took
what Judge Alonso said and we took the model
of treatment courts. Treatment courts are not
new. They've been around for 25 years around
this country and around the world. The word treatment
means that these courts offer at some level drug
treatment for the defendant. Okay. Bexar County
happens to have about 15 of them. We have the
same number as the Dallas -Fort Worth area. Wow.
And we have the same number as the Harris County
area. And so they're called diversion programs
because they will divert the population that's
involved away from the jail. And will offer mental
health services, social services, drug treatment,
whatever it is that they have a need for that's
going to increase the probability of their success
and reduce the probability of recidivism or returning
back into the criminal justice system. And all
the data that's out there shows that treatment
courts work a lot better than putting somebody
at the jail without treatment. And so we knew
that. There's an overarching umbrella organization
called All Rise. All Rise provides us our guidance
on how to put these courts together. So we have
to follow two things, best practices and the
10 key components. And they give us a framework
of how to work drug treatment courts with the
population. Now, it just so happened that because
in my court, we're dealing with family violence.
that automatically deems the defendant upon arrest,
not even conviction, upon arrest, a quote unquote
violent offender. Oh, wow. So immediately funds
to help them drop. They plummet downward. There
are very little funds to help a quote unquote
violent offender. No other treatment court. can
treat a violent offender because that puts their
funding at risk of being cut because you're providing
services to a violent offender. So we put our
heads together and we drafted a house bill 3529
for the 2019 legislative session. We did that
only after I tried to approach city council and
commissioners court and let them know that I
was going to seek a way to try and get this type
of court established and they were receptive
to the idea. They weren't receptive to helping.
In other words, good idea, bad politics. No one
wants to help a violent offender, Rosie. Good
luck with it. And so once we wrote the House
bill, we got then state rep Roland Gutierrez
to sponsor the bill in the House and Senator
Jose Menendez to sponsor the bill in the Senate.
And the bill came out of both chambers unanimously.
It became a bill that got bipartisan support
because after that it went to the governor's
desk and Governor Abbott signed the bill into
law and created reflejo court within the parameters
of Bexar County Court of Law number 13. And then
we set the criteria only for first -time offenders
with a history of substance abuse. So you're
probably asking, why only first -time offenders?
Because the science shows that when you first
come in contact with... the court system as a
defendant, that's the very time period that you
are more apt to doing whatever you need to do
to make it go away. You don't want, in this court,
your in -laws to know that you touched their
child, of course your spouse, in that way. You
don't want your kids to know that this happened.
You don't want your neighbors to know. You don't
want your job to know. You could lose your house
and you could lose your job. You could lose your
professional license. So you want it to go away.
And at that point, we swoop in and we say, we've
got a solution for you. If you stay with us at
least a year and you do this five -phase program
and complete it successfully, the district attorney,
Joe Gonzalez, and the district clerk, Gloria
Martinez, have agreed that upon your successful
completion of this program, your case will not
only be dismissed, your expungement will be paid
for and given to you free of charge. So that
once you leave our program... that's your second
chance because it goes away. It is erased from
your record as if it never happened. And you're
never going to be so blessed again. Yeah. If
you are deemed a violent offender and it's never
lifted from you because you screwed up on probation
or you went to trial and were found guilty, regardless
of how you got that label in the system, once
you're deemed a violent offender, it can affect
your legal parental rights. It can limit where
you work. It can limit where you live. It can
exclude you from financial aid in college. It
can exclude you from getting certain licenses,
professional licenses. And you can no longer
protect yourself like every other Texan can.
You can't have guns. So that's how it affects
your life for the rest of your life or until
it's lifted by some mechanism that maybe your
attorney can figure out. And a blessing, Judge,
that you do that. So let me ask you this. So
what is the, maybe more like, the success stories
and the success rate of people that have gone
through your court? We've had, I would say, between
150 and 200 people try to make it through the
program. Of those, 50 or just under 50 have made
it through the program, have graduated. I want
to say 49, maybe one or two off. But only one
out of the total number of graduates, only one
has reoffended. The program has less than a 3
% recidivism rate. All the rest of the graduates
have gone on to lead productive, happy lives
without the trauma that they brought in coming
into the court. The program is a trauma -centered,
trauma -certified court. It took us two years
to get that certification, and we're the only
trauma -certified court in the whole country.
Nice. Now, they get their trauma taken care of.
It's a sobriety program, so they have to get
sober. They don't have to do it cold turkey.
We provide therapy. We provide medical intervention
opportunities. Everything that can help you get
sober, we'll give it to you. And it doesn't have
to take the first time. Many people have to have
several rounds of treatment, kind of like cancer,
right? Drug addiction is a disease, and it should
be treated like cancer. You get treatment for
it. Sometimes you get one round of chemo, and
it works. Other times, you got to go through
five rounds of chemo before it works. It's the
same thing with substance abuse. Some people
are able to get sober after one round of treatment.
Other people keep going back. And so in our court,
we don't turn you away. If you're in the program
and you say, I need treatment, I need residential
again, judge, we'll send you back to residential
as many times as we need to, to make sure you
stay sober. Wow. So they get sobriety treatment,
drug treatment, they get trauma treatment, they
get job training opportunities. We set them up
to get their GED. We set them up with sober housing.
We assist them in finding apartments. We assist
them in finding employment. We kind of fill in
everything they didn't have before they got to
the court that put them at higher risk of actually
coming into the court. And so we send them off.
They came in with the backpack. We send them
off with the brand new set of Louis Vuitton bags
with everything they could possibly want or need
to succeed in life. Yeah. Wow. And your court
came up with this. Yes. Me and my wife, Stacy,
Dr. Stacy Speedland Gonzalez. Wow. And that's
why there was so much national attention. People
were featured on the New York Times, Washington
Post. Maybe some other ones picked it up, but
it was the New York Times national headline cover
that we made in December. I saw it in Washington
Post, actually. I did. I did a little bit of
research, and I did find the program in the Washington
Post. You don't even know that. I don't even
know that. But it's there. And I understand that
it's kind of a footprint that everybody... wanting
to explore. Definitely. We have people inquiring
about our court from Alaska, New Mexico, all
over the country. There is another similar court,
we were told, in Ohio, another one in Dade County,
possibly one in Wisconsin. Our jails are getting
packed or full. They're overflowing. And so there's
all these jurisdictions across the country looking
for different ways to deal with the population
that may not necessarily be a chronic criminal
population, but a more acute. You know, it's
a one time behavior. It was they were drunk.
They were under the influence of drugs. And if
we treat the core issue. then they won't repeat
the behavior. And so that's what they're trying
to explore. And of course, an approach pulling
away from what we call punitive or punishment
measures and pivoting toward redemption and second
chances. And believing that if we give a man
a hammer and give him some nails, he can build
his own house. But if you just build the house,
you're just going to fill it up with men. right
not knowing what to do in that house um and it's
it's a lot more power and impact when you teach
a man how to live life what drove you to to think
about doing this because this is a very big step
just to be able to especially in texas like you
said it was bad politics uh great idea I think
when we come to the table, we talk about things,
we talk about them, but we don't really want
to be that public about how we feel, especially
people in leadership roles. And I know that you've
had, unfortunately, I'm sure this was not easy
for you to do either. I didn't think about it
in terms of easy or hard. I thought about it
in terms of this is what we need, a solution.
oriented and focused approach. My whole life,
you know, as a kid, you know, no vengas con tus
chingaderas. In other words, don't come with
the complaints if you don't have a solution.
My whole life. You got a solution? I'll hear
you. Solutions will hear you. So the point in
all that is I was conditioned to always, you
know, you can complain, but you better have a
solution. Right. So I can tell you that right
out of college in 1987. I say my wife all the
time. I already know the complaint. Just tell
me the solution. There you go. There you go.
Happy wife, happy life. So right out of college,
I went to grad school, dropped out of grad school
in the 80s, you know, because it was more important
to dance to Madonna at the bottom than to study.
And that led to about 11 years of working in
the social work fields. I worked at residential
treatment facilities. I worked as a child abuse
investigator. I worked for Catholic Charities
with the indigent. I worked with gang members
on the South Side through communities and schools.
in the Harland Hill School District. I worked
for the Mexican American Community Council working
with at -risk youth. I ended up in Travis County
being a probation officer in Travis County. And
then a year and a half before I came back to
law school in San Antonio, I was in Brownsville
working at my old high school. And so it was
when I was down there, I was down there because
dad had taken a turn, his health had taken a
turn for the worse and mom needed help watching
him. And while I was down there, I was teaching
in my old high school. My mom said, hey, you
really need to reconsider. this pipe dream you
had 10, 15 years ago of law school. And she says,
what do you need? What stopped you all this time?
I thought, you know, my life diverted in another
direction. And she says, well, we need you to
bring in some income more than what you're doing
now to help take care of your dad. Okay, all
right, mom, what do you want me to do? Okay,
so let's get you ready for the LSAT. We got me
prepped. Let's get you applications in. She helped
with everything. And I came to St. Mary's Law
School. I got admitted. Went on to have a solo
practice for about 17 years. From the point I
started the social work fields to the point I
became a lawyer, the same populations that I
helped as a caseworker, as a social worker, as
a probation officer, as a drug treatment counselor,
all of that, were the populations that were now
seeking me out as a lawyer. And I was I had a
commitment to that population. I felt really
strongly coming from South Texas that income
should not dictate the quality of legal representation
that you should be able to get. And so I've always
I was that lawyer that gave you payment plans.
And as long as you kept your payment plan, I
don't care if it's twenty five dollars a week.
We're going to work with you. And so. That was
the kind of practice that I had for almost 17
years before I got elected to go to the bench.
But that experience, you know, I'll tell you
a brief story. When I was in Austin as a probation
officer, there was one year that I was there
that I worked five jobs. I was probation officer.
I worked at a girls' residential facility at
night. I worked at a women's residential facility
on the weekends. I worked security for nonprofits.
And during basketball season, I was a UIO basketball
referee for girls' high school basketball. And
I remember doing my taxes and sitting on the
steps outside my apartment and thinking, man,
I paid $36 ,000 and she was working five jobs.
With a college degree. This is back in the mid
-90s, early 90s. And I'm like, I remember asking
rhetorically, is this as good as it's going to
get? And, you know, of course, you keep thinking
that. But once I got to... where I was at this
bench, I looked back and was very grateful for
every experience. When my lights got cut off
because, you know, I didn't pay the bill, 20
something. When I had to go and pawn something.
When I, you know, I took that family on the bus
to learn how to go grocery shopping and how to
take the bus. When I, you know. went and pulled
these kids out of a home where they were being
profoundly abused and we had to go in with the
SWAT team. Every experience put me where I was
that day. And I want to believe that every one
of those experiences as pre -law school and as
an attorney have given me the insight that I
need to deal with this population from the bench.
There are no mistakes and there are no coincidences.
And the journey's been a very, very... educational
for me and it's allowed me to serve san antonio
which is a community that i believe i have a
debt of gratitude to because it's a community
that i chose to live in because i felt very welcome
here back in the 80s and um i will forever feel
indebted and feel like i have to constantly pay
the rent to have the privilege to live here and
whatever i can do to make this community a safer
uh more enjoyable place for not only us to live
in but our spouses and our kids and our grandkids
to live in then i can say i've done my job absolutely
well you're one of the few and far between judges
uh that i've seen and i know that i'm not saying
that there's nobody else but you you've not only
said uh you you said you're from brownsville
but you're you're one of us And you really are.
You've served in Antonio. In more ways than one.
Yes, you are. And I think I'm in awe because
I feel that there's a lot of people that don't
know. You say, you know, this community that
you serve, but I feel like you are you are part
of that community. I mean, you you literally
have been in the trenches. And I think it was.
when you said I couldn't pay my bills, I didn't
make very much money. I think we've all been
there. We've all been in a place. And for those
who haven't, thank God you haven't. Right. But
it's true. And it really happens. And it gives
you a lot of insight when you're dealing with
people that are going through something. I think
it's part of what makes you such a great judge.
Because you're not really judging the person,
right? You're judging the crime. Right. The behavior.
Yeah, absolutely. The behavior, absolutely. I
think that it's not black and white. And sometimes
it's really difficult for somebody who we just
recently sat down with some prosecutors that
were talking about that. When they were prosecuting
attorneys, they said, well, everything was like,
throw the book at them. And then when they got
on the other side of it, it's like, oh, maybe
I shouldn't have been that way. And I think that
because you've taken all of these steps and God
puts you in that path, we always say those broken
roads that we've been through get us to where
we're at. Judge, you're so impressive. I cannot
tell you enough how impressed I am with you,
how you're so approachable. My niece just...
got a presidential award uh my great niece and
she met you once you came to the house uh for
a birthday party that we were having and that
you were gracious enough i invited you i didn't
expect you to go she was campaigning she wasn't
a judge yet she was still an attorney but you
were campaigning and she walked into my house
and was like What? Like, who is that? And I was
like, she's campaigning. And it was late. Like,
it was like 10 o 'clock. She'd been out all day
campaigning and stuff. And she came. When were
you a judge? You were already a judge. No, I
might have been. It might have been in 2018,
I think. Yeah. You lived in the cul -de -sac?
Yes. Yes, over there by Seawalls. Yeah. So, yeah,
because I had just moved from the Lofts, right,
downtown, when we were all downtown. So, anyway,
but everybody, and she was little. Bella was
little. And she was just like. I like her. And
she was just in awe with her. So that was it.
So she just, we just found out last week, she
placed first in mock trials in Austin. So she
won a lab trial. So she was so happy and in tears.
And then she got her acceptance. She got a full
presidential for St. Mary's. She got accepted
to A &M College Station, but she wanted UT in
Austin. And she just found out that they accepted
her. And she was just like, and just crying.
Did you get the video? She was like, just. ecstatic
but I will tell you that we don't have I think
my stepsister graduated from from A &M College
but we don't have college graduates and it's
very difficult when you don't come from that
background that you're It's the cycles that we're
talking about. And her mom was a young mom just
like me, so she didn't get to go to college either.
And for Bella to be doing what she's doing, I
credit so much to you because you were a big
influence and a little eighth grade girl that
was just in awe with you. She didn't even...
Well, you know, and for me, you talk about the
family cycles and dynamics. My model was my mother.
And so she started going to night school when
I was about second. grade and she got her bachelor's
and master's going to night school all the way
until i was at the end of junior high so my brother
and i didn't see her very often we saw her on
the weekends and that's because we went to the
library with her and she'd be upstairs in her
study group and we'd be downstairs in the children's
section of the library and um but people would
come up to her because we have that cultural
stigma right that women are supposed to be at
home cooking raising the kids and what are you
doing doing other things right and so people
would come up to her and say what are you doing
you know you're going to night school and working
and your kids and she'd say look my husband and
I have told our kids that education is the leveling
of the playing field and with education you should
be able to accomplish your dreams and we have
to give them that example we have to live it
by example and so I need to show them the difference
in lifestyle within education. So we were first
-world witnesses to my mom just being a bookkeeper,
getting her education and her master's to becoming
a teacher and then a campus counselor and therapist.
And we saw that progression in our lives. And
so that was probably the best thing, in her opinion,
that she could have done for us. And so... The
gift going forward is to encourage young ladies
like your granddaughter and making sure that
they don't have any mental, at the very least,
mental obstacles and encouraging them. Because
I see the residuals of trying to put children
or individuals into a box that they don't fit
into. because they are artists or they're just
expressive or they're just different. And when
you try and stifle that type of spirit, you get
depression, you get anxiety, you get anger, and
they become clients in mental health clinics,
like the one my wife owns. And so the damage
is irreparable sometimes. The damage sometimes
takes years of therapy or psychotherapy to address.
But what if we just raise kids to be themselves?
Wow. Right. What if we just said it's OK to wear
a blue chuck and a red chuck at the same time?
What if you say, you know, your green hair looks
great. You should try purple next week. You know,
it's OK. You know, as long as they've got good
hygiene, as long as they've got good manners,
you can express yourself any which way you want.
And you have much healthier kids with a broader
range of their experience in the world and a
lot more adjustable to what challenges life may
throw at them. I think I agree with you 100 %
because I think that the biggest, my biggest
critic is me, right? And I think we've all grown
up in a certain way where you, you know, it's
our parents. You just put your finger on it because
it isn't you. It's a voice you hear in your head.
Yeah. And that voice is a recording of something
someone said to you that you keep playing over
and over and over again. It's usually a parent
or a grandparent or a caretaker that gets. recorded
in your head and you carry it with you until
the tape plays out or you get rid of that tape
and put in the new tape. Yeah, I think you're
right. I think with dad, like education is so
important. Right. And so my brother's a drummer
and that was like that music. He's a rock and
roll drummer. So it's like and that's when rock
and roll is from the devil. So it's a disco.
I try to I try to convince my dad that Ozzy Osbourne
was a Christian and he had a cross. And I was
trying to go to this concert and he said, no,
no, no. Oh, daddy was like, I said, you know.
So my mom was very different. Their mother built
my brother, took the garage and soundproofed
it and let them play all night. She's like, go
to your closet or go to sleep because you got
to let them play. Right. And so I remember my
mom, she didn't really let them discover themselves.
Yeah. And she did. I mean, she didn't really.
So they took us. Listen to yourself. You think
our parents or grandparents would have said at
their time, oh, you got to let them be themselves.
No. No. That is why parenting for me has been
a challenge somewhat because we let, you know,
it's like you said, you let the kids figure out
what is it they want to do. We tell our daughter,
you know. go and be the best person that you
can be out there and and be that you know that's
so much a representative of us but you are oh
you are i tell my kids that all day yeah you
know it's like you are a representation representation
of us but be the best you you can be you know
and what it is you want to do and and um you
know my wife and i were you know she you know,
was raised a certain way. And I mean, her parents
were strict on her. if the light ain't on by
the time you get, I'm locking the door, that
kind of thing. You know, if the streetlight comes
on, I'm locking the door. That's it. Then I'll
beat you when you come inside. And that's just
pretty much, and you had said something judge
that, that, you know, it's like, you don't want
to be the example. And, and here, this thing
with the reflejo court, you're giving them a
chance, another chance, an opportunity to be
able to, you know, what, you know, believe in
themselves again. And I think that is so... Let's
just say I might have a family member that's
been against the law a couple times. And let
me just say, if you have a third chance court,
he might feel that. So let's just say I know
somebody that would have taken advantage of this
because it fit the profile. This day, you know,
I would not I if I had, you know, again, a lot
of this is what you've talked about. I've been
illiterate, too, because I don't know. I don't
know a lot of that stuff. But, you know, I couldn't
imagine. I know the attorney's job is to convince
you and the jury as to where your job, you know,
I don't know if there's like a. like a guideline
of okay you know this is what the i'm gonna sentence
you know and that kind of thing because it's
got to be hard i mean so hard i only want to
be a judge if you paid me because it just seems
like so much is uh how do i determine what's
good for this person here and do they have or
is it just a one -time deal to look into that
and take time for that i thought i applaud you
for that that's really cool because it does give
them hope And that's what it is, hope. And somebody
believes in them enough to give them that opportunity.
And like you said, not everybody is going to
pass. And it's obviously not a very easy program,
but they've got to prove themselves. Correct.
So it's not just something like handing out free
passes. That's not what the court is at all.
No, and because it is a court that we talked
about that addresses trauma and triggers. along
their journey in our court they will be quote
unquote triggered and their behaviors will reflect
their triggers and so we have to we have to meet
them where they're at and so when they're triggered
we address the trigger and then we we slow it
down and then we move forward from there and
we teach them how to recognize hey i'm being
triggered and how to not react to those triggers
but to respond to those triggers so that they
don't have a reactive uh They don't lift the
hand. They don't come at you violently. They
don't dress you down verbally because a lot of
the abuse that we often hear about starts with
emotional and verbal abuse and moves into a physical
contact type of situation. The behavior is one
of progression. And so that's the other reason
we look at first -time offenders because if we
can, as they say, nip it in the bud, you know,
cut it right there where the bulb is for the
flower, then... we have an opportunity to have
it grow in a different direction, right? And
so that's the importance. Because if you don't
get it early, then it progresses into more severe,
profound behaviors. And inevitably, the science
will show that it'll end up in a homicide. So
there's a great documentary on Netflix. It's
still showing. It's called I Am a Stalker. If
you have time, there's about 12... chapters or
episodes and each episode covers an individual
two or three of them are from san antonio as
a matter of fact but um it has a before and after
right and so everyone had a catalyst event in
their in their episode before the episode you
get this pretty you know the the bugs bunny music
in the back with the birds chirping and the harps
and then the episode and then where the behavior
escalates. And by the end of their episode, they're
sitting in a cell in a state penitentiary for
a crime they committed that hurt somebody or
killed somebody. And the whole first half of
their episode, you actually like the person,
right? But by the second half of the episode,
you see what happens because nobody put the brakes
on them. No one provided them the guidance or
the interventions that they needed to not end
up in a prison and not end up having committed
a catastrophic crime. I have a quick question,
Judge. What is some of the success stories that
you can say or that you've seen yourself that,
you know, some that have been on this part of
this court? We've had people that have become
citizens that weren't citizens. And if they had
this conviction, they were never going to become
citizens. We've had folks who have now joined
the military who would not have been able to
join the military if they had this type of conviction.
We've had folks who got primary custody of their
children. because their case started over an
altercation with the other parent, and now they're
in the middle of a custody dispute, but they
finished the program, and they proved to the
other court, hey, I'm going to be the better
parent because I've been sober for two years,
and I've learned parenting, and they get primary
custody of their kids over the other parent who
didn't get as many interventions as this parent
got in our referral court. We have folks that
are now working as case managers and drug treatment
counselors at Haven for Hope, at the place they
lived at when they were in our program. So those
are the types of success stories that we hear.
We just published a collection of their success
stories, and it's called Stories of Transformation.
And you can get a free copy down at the courthouse.
You just go down and see Terry in County Court
13. She's our admin assistant. And we're on the
third floor of the Cadena Ridge Justice Center.
Get up there and go to Court 13, ask for Terry,
and she'll give you a copy of the book. And they
come back and thank you personally? Yes. As a
matter of fact, a large... A group of them showed
up a couple of weeks ago at Commissioner's Court
because they got wind that there was a possibility
that one of the commissioners might pull the
budget for the federal court with more questions,
and they weren't having it. And so they showed
up and gave testimony, and by the end of that
meeting, the budget had been approved for the
federal court. I mean, it's like a, what is it,
a 98 % rate that you have? I mean, that is, I
mean, how is there not a budget for that? I mean,
that's just, that's a no -brainer. It really
is. If I can see that, I mean, come on. But I
think one thing, Judge, I feel like. And I've
known you for many years, and I've learned so
much about you here today that I knew very little
about even the court. Like, I know, I see the
press releases and stuff, and you're not one
to... toot your own horn and you don't talk about
all these accomplishments and things i got to
know your upbringing because of the manguera
memories that i absolutely love if you have not
seen it we are going to republish and i know
we've talked about publishing the book uh for
manguera memories you have to see this stuff
if you've not seen it it is amazing she is such
a great writer like you have to see that you
have to read it i remember uh let me send you
one called la migra We ran that last week, two
weeks ago. Two weeks ago. Two weeks ago in La
Prensa. We re -ran it. But it is fun. Everything,
it's so entertaining. I remember I went with
Steve Duran at the time as a publisher. And he's
like, I need you to come with me. I'm going to
go talk to somebody about writing a book. And
they write a book and they want to pull it out.
And he's like, you're going to read it. I'll
be the bearer of bad news, right, if it wasn't
a good book. So we're at Luby's and we're in
line and I'm reading it. And I was just laughing,
just skimming through it. it right I wasn't even
reading the whole thing and I was like this is
so good you're such an entertaining writer have
you always written no uh you know that I had
Some very good teachers. I'm a product of the
public school system from South Texas. People
had, I remember in college, wanted to use that
against me. And it turned out that I probably
wrote better than many of the women that were
in college that went to school back east. And
I had great English teachers. I had Mr. Frigeaux
in junior high. I had Mrs. Wright and Mr. Lawton
and Mrs. Frankie in high school. And then back
then, you may be too young to remember this,
it was a typewriter. And you had to have a little
ribbon that erased it off the paper or this pencil
that had an eraser on it that... tore a hole
in your paper right and if you screwed up the
typing there went the whole page yeah and you
had to start over right and so um that's how
i started the writing i never journaled um and
i didn't really start to to kind of put stories
together until i was an adult i had been published
in some stuff out of austin uh it was a whole
different writing style they they tear you down
in law school and if you thought you were a good
writer You better have another thing coming because
law school just... It just breaks you down to
the bare bones. And so it makes you rethink and
question your writing abilities. And then I came
back to it and then got published by La Prensa
with those memories. I love them. They're so
good. And I want to show them with the world.
They're so engaging and you don't want to put
them down. And I just love, love, love. And I
tell everybody about them all the time because
they really are so good. Judge, there's a lot
of... You've done so much, and I wonder right
now to ask you, if you could talk to your younger
self, what would you tell little Rosie? Probably
the one thing that I think you acquire through
age, and that's patience. And you want everything
right now, right here, right? Everything. And
you don't understand the value of... the hard
work to put into it to get the ultimate result.
You don't understand that if you take shortcuts,
you're going to get a less quality product, whatever
you're striving for. We talk about how I was
raised. My parents were very mindful of the fact
that they had a different kind of child. And
I remember my mom always telling me, you know,
you getting straight A's and having perfect attendance,
you stay good cut. You're going to have to be
twice as good. You're going to have to be three
times as good. You're going to have to be four
times as good as the person next to you because
of who you are. They're going to exclude you.
They're going to overlook you. They're going
to ignore you. And there was one particular story
of when we were growing up, a brand new church's
fried chicken opened up a block and a half away
from the house. And on Saturday nights or Sundays,
depending, It was either going to watch the Lawrence
Welk show or the Red Skeleton show, depending
what night it was. And we were going to eat the
family pack of Church's Fried Chicken while we
watched TV. And I remember she sent me and my
brother, I was about eight or nine, and he must
have been about five or six, to go get the bucks.
I didn't know she followed me. I guess I took
too long. And I was at the window, which was
about here to my face. And at that time, it was
all men that worked at Church's Fried Chicken.
And there was a line. of men ordering dinner.
And before I knew it, she was standing right
behind me. And she said to the man, what's the
problem? Why have you not taken my daughter's
order? Well, I didn't see her kind of thing,
right? So she said, well, we'll have a family
pack and she's been waiting here for 10 minutes.
So we'd like it right away. So they took care
of it. She walked back to the house with us and
then she laid into me. And the lesson was, don't
you ever let anybody cut in front of you in line.
You were at the front of the line. And then the
next lesson, and you speak up. You speak up and
you have your voice heard. And that's the two
lessons from that. And I've carried it with me
for the rest of my life. And it's so unfortunate
that that is the truth and that is the reality.
Judge, I think it's very difficult when we come
from a Hispanic background because just Hispanics
itself were told not to. Daddy was taught, don't
talk. Sit in the back of the classroom, Ralph.
You're a good kid. Just sit in the back of the
classroom and you'll be okay. Don't come home
with the note that you got in trouble, that you
were talking or that, you know. Oh, yeah. Daddy
never, he knew better. Daddy used to live in
the projects. And after seven, they weren't allowed
to be walking the streets. And if the cops did
catch you, which they would, they would ask them,
what do you want to do? Juvedile? Get a record?
Well, my grandma would have to go. or he'd get
a beating with the baton, so they'd handcuff
him and beat him with the baton. Yikes. And so
for my grandmother not to do that, just like
you said, a bad note is one of the least, but
he knew how to stay in line. Mother, a little
bit different. And mother would say, you speak
up. You don't know. You tell them, you call my
mom. I go, I did. No, you say it more than once.
You don't let teachers talk to you that way.
You don't, you know, if somebody is wrong, they're
wrong. And you've got to speak up. And you threaten
them with the media. You threaten them with the
media. And, you know, nowadays, unfortunately,
I'm very proud of being part of the media. And
I'm glad that I have this platform. And La Peranza
is a very different. Thank God it's a very, very
different instrument than mainstream media, right?
We are a community and we are here to serve our
community and talk about the things that really
do matter. I think it's insane how now with social
media that you can be attacked for. It's such
a great instrument to voice, but why do we voice
so much hate? Well, I think it's a phenomenon
that I think people of our age have seen. develop
and it's called the weaponization right we use
systems that are in place and we weaponize them
i'll give you an example because this has gone
on for decades people that call in false reports
of child abuse yes because they're in a custody
dispute or because the grandmother wants the
kids over the or they're mad at their mother
or their sister or that's that's a weaponization
of a system that's meant to protect children
not for vindictiveness but We as a society, as
a culture, have developed this behavioral pattern
in people that they weaponize the very systems
that are supposed to help us. And so I think
that's what is happening with the media. And
it's become so competitive for readership that
the media no longer is interested in facts. They're
infotainment. I compare it to the National Enquirer.
So I used to love to walk out and write all the
sun, the globe, but the National Enquirer, I
was like, eh. You actually bought it. I would
just pick it up and read it while we sit in line
and then I put it back. But it's now become the
society of we love Cheeseman, but we hate Cheeseman.
Maybe. We love Cheeseman when it's about someone
else and hate it when it's about us. I don't
know about us. I think that Cheeseman is... fun
to an extent if it's true you know well okay
if the cheese is true it's true but if the cheese
is not true of course if you think it's not if
it's true it's not cheese man yeah if it's true
it's news i remember when i got with the news
station and my first week there i found out like
i came from stand up i came from a fan base i
had a family and this was new to me I found out
what trolls were and my first week there on the
news I had everybody I went in and I remember
Christina DeLeon said she sat next to me she
goes are you she's typing she's not even looking
at me are you what are you seeing what they're
putting on you know it's Facebook and I'm like
and I'm looking I'm like get this guy off the
TV I'd rather hear dogs get it on all kinds of
stuff you go kill yourself and I'm like This
clown doesn't even know me. Right. And then I
found out you're not supposed to acknowledge
them and answer them. You're supposed to say,
thank you very much for watching. I really appreciate
it. Hell to the no. I said, uh -uh. I said, you
don't know me, Haas. It's called where's Clefto.
Come say to my face. I was like, you don't know
me. And then I said this. And I got in trouble.
I had to go to the office and they took me off
social media because I told them, hey, Haas.
It don't take much to change the channel. That's
all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. No, you
don't say that. I did not realize that when you're
in the public eye now, and you can relate to,
when you're in the public eye, it's like you're
an open target now. And you are, and now you're
in it too. This is it. It's like you give them
a little bit. And they'll take you like a whole
mile. And they don't even know you. And that's
the thing. They don't even live here. They don't
live here. In another state, in another country,
around the world. But they have an opinion. Yes.
And it's like, it doesn't matter if they just
go by what you look like, what you sound like,
what you're about. I have, you know, so many
people come at me when that first happened, you
know, coming on the news. They know what to make
of me. It took them a while for them to. okay
he's like us and he doesn't know what the hell
he's talking about it's like he's he's funny
okay we get it we know what they're trying to
do here but it was uh you know and again It's
like for those people that don't know you, Judge.
I mean, I got a chance to meet Judge about a
year and a half ago, maybe two years ago. We
were doing a celebrity barbecue tasting at a
lowrider convention. And I got a chance to meet
her. And I tell you right now, if you've never
met her. You you just you feel like you've known
her and I felt like I know that we just clicked
we came really good friends and I consider her
friend and She came to one of my shows at the
Mi Familia and I thought that was super cool
You came with your wife and it was I hope you
had a good time It was like it was like man.
I was like, you know, it's like you you you know
certain when you meet people you just know that
the character you know and it's like you know
that that you feel when you know you've known
them for a long time it's uh you don't see too
many of those and then it's like there's one
thing about being strong and vocal but to be
able to have charisma with people just regular
people and just be able to do that and that's
why a lot of people they come up to me like i
perform a lot at churches sometimes and they'll
come up to me I didn't even know you were a Christian.
I didn't even know you were like Jesus. I'm like,
they don't know anything about you until they
find out who you are. And it's just, you know,
I try to tell them that it's, you got to get
to know somebody. And it's not just by Facebook.
I mean, it's just hang out with them, you know,
just, you know. And I agree. But again, we're
tiptoeing into an area of how we're taking care
of our youth and our children. Because when I
left the college in 1983, the video sensation
was something called Pong. That's right. And
then the next thing I know, my brother has an
Atari. And then it's Nintendo. And then you have
the game rooms. Everything involved. And today
we find ourselves... Here, take that and go over
there. I'm busy. I'm busy. I'm busy. Mom's dad.
We're busy over here. So here, here, this has
become the portal to the world, to children.
It has become the babysitter. It has become their
friend, their AI bestie. And so there's a disconnect
there. There's no human touch. And the child's
brain just keeps taking all this electrical pulses
and data into their brain, but there's no human
touch. And so you're getting a generation of
folks that have no social skills. They don't
know how to say hello. They don't know how to
say, I'm leaving. Goodbye. See you tomorrow,
next week. They don't know. what it is to say
please or thank you and so we're gonna have to
we're gonna have to find a solution to dealing
with that type of new communication challenge
i think that we need to first of all acknowledge
that it happens right so i had a conversation
and i got a little offended yesterday uh with
a friend of mine because he's like i said you
know what i decided um i'm gonna go ahead and
go back to cable television so i stopped um with
cable, with television, because I didn't want
to watch the news anymore. It was after Uvalde.
And it was too much for me. I remember I could,
I've never been so affected by anything. We see
things and, you know, you feel bad when you see
things that happen to children. Just came too
close to home. Oh my gosh. I can't tell you how
much I tried to get there. I wanted to, Uvalde's
not far from us. You know, we used to play, I
went to Southwest High School. So that was one
of the teams that we played. We used to go on
the bus, you know, with the band. It's not that
far. I could have gone. I just couldn't get,
I couldn't go. I couldn't. And then I kept seeing
it and then I'm just crying all the time. And
I went to a pretty dark place and I'm like, what
is wrong with me? What is happening? It's like
you said, just hearing it constantly. And I was
secondary trauma. Oh my gosh. It was terrible.
I couldn't do it. And I just said, we're done.
I called, I said, turn this off. What do I owe
you? I'm done. I can't do this anymore. So I
said, I'll stream. So that way I can choose what
I'm going to watch. pick up and watch a few things
on on uh social media then i'm like oh okay now
i can go and go to apple news and do those type
of things but yes i decided that i wanted to
go ahead and get go back to television because
now the kids are streaming and we've got these
youtube things so i'm raising my grandchildren
both the boys are autistic so their little brains
take everything and they're both very different
on the spectrum they're not the same um i've
got a little boy who One of his classmates, he's
eight, and said he's kind of crazy, right? And
you were talking about outside the box, Judge.
So I did that to his dad. I said, no, you don't
say that. No, you don't do that. I did that because
that wasn't like, no, you don't do that. You
don't say that. And it took my oldest son to
say to me, Mom, why do you do that? Why do you
tell him he can't do something? I said, because
that's not the way we do things. He said, that's
the way he does things. And I mean, Nico was
probably about 12 years old when he said it to
me. But I mean, so yeah, I listened to your kids
because I thought it was the oddest thing. So
we, my daddy would take them fishing, right?
And they lived up by Bronic Lake and he'd take
them and he would wake up and he's like, grandpa.
Can I go catch a fish? And he's like, go ahead.
So daddy would put the pole holders, right? And
he'd go and he would look at them and he'd grab
one every single time he pulled a fish. Oh, wow.
Every single time. I mean, there would be no
bites. Nobody was catching. It might not have
been a take home fish, but he always pulled a
fish. Wow. And then I told him, well, you don't
always get to. catch a fish all the time. I was
like, what do you mean? That's not been my experience.
But after I spoke to him, yes, after I spoke
to him, guess what happened? He didn't catch
a fish anymore. So it's you. It's me. It's my
fault. And so as parents, we don't always do
the right things. We try our best. Or we'll miss
the mark. Yeah, we do. And it happens. And so
I think as parents, so I sat at a table one time.
It was a high school reunion. everybody's talking
about their kids and how great their kids were.
And I was like, oh, not mine. I said, I got the
devil's children. I said, those kids are definitely
nuts, right? Because they're in puberty, right?
It was just like those teenage years and everybody's
like, oh my God, like, did you hear her? I was
like, yes, did you? It's the truth. It was like,
I love them. I don't like them. I don't. Sometimes
I can say some other things, but I was like,
then eventually I ended up finding out it's the
behavior I don't like. And it's, you know, those
kinds of things. Can we put Yvette in your program?
I was going to say, you have this mindfulness
about how you want to approach those boys. And
you're one in a million. And so most kids nowadays
don't have a mindfulness in their parents. And
they're losing a lot in the way of socialization.
They're losing a lot in the way of goal setting.
Nowadays, parents, to just keep the child quiet
or occupied, will give them something right away.
And that child will then grow up believing they're
entitled to things. And it comes a culture of
entitlement, right? This is the eighth place
trophy generation, right? When I was growing
up, you only got a trophy if you got first place.
You got ribbons. You got ribbons for second and
third place. And then after that, guess what?
You got nothing. Go get some chili, you know,
some chili pie. That's what you get. But now
everybody gets a trophy. So we have people thinking,
well, Where's my trophy? You know? And so there's
that entitlement. You can't tell anybody you're
late because they are offended that you pointed
out that they're late. You can't tell somebody
that you're wrong on this. Whether it's an opinion
or whether it's they didn't know the case law
or they didn't know a procedure. Because they're
offended that you corrected them. Or that they
don't know how to act in a courtroom. Yeah, all
of that. All of that. And I will say that. And
just to get back to that, I'm so sorry, Judge,
because I know we wanted to talk about court
a little bit. And that's really what this is
about so that we can all get to know. First,
know you as a person, but also understand a little
bit about the courtroom. Because we don't understand
anything. We don't know how to get involved with.
Like, who chooses somebody that is a candidate
for the complejo court? Those type of things.
So the unfortunate part of the complejo court
is that you must have been arrested for an allegation
of family violence. And you have to have been
assigned to our courtroom to have the best chance
of coming in. Now, other courts can refer your
case to us. The other part of this scientifically...
design court is that the science tells us that
you cannot order somebody or force somebody to
do the program. If they don't have the wherewithal
about themselves to say to you, I need help.
My behavior is not appropriate. I have an addiction
problem. Then they're not going to do well being
ordered and forced to do something they're not
ready to accept. They're not ready to embrace.
So it has to be voluntary. And then once they
come in voluntarily and say, I want to do Reflejo
Court, I'm a first -time offender, I have a substance
abuse issue, they get screened for history, for
how frequent this problem is, and then they get
staffed. The team at Reflejo Court is a multidisciplinary
team, and they meet once a week to review cases
and to review the progress or lack thereof of
the people already in the program. So that multidisciplinary
team includes the judge. The court director and
administrative assistant, the curriculum instructors,
probation, the public defender, the prosecutor,
the therapist for drug treatment, the therapist
for mental health issues, the medication supervision
officer, the deputy. OK, so it's like 12 people
and we all review each participant. Right. Either
they're coming into the court and if they're
in the court, are they doing well or are they
doing poorly? And what do we do to adjust to
increase their chances of succeeding in graduating?
That's a weekly thing. So that is a reflejo cord
in a nutshell, right? And like I said, they get
education, they get trauma treatment, they get
sobriety, they get jobs, they get housing, and
they have to show us long -term sobriety for
at least a year. It's actually harder than probation
because they have to report more frequently or
they have to do more for us than they would do
on a regular probation case. But nice because
at the end, there's a prize that's worth winning.
With probation, you're just going to get it over
with. But with this, if you do well... Yes, the
case is dismissed and expunged. So I want to
touch on something, Judge, and I hope that you're
okay with me bringing this up. You heard like
somebody, because we talked about trolls and
we talked about all that stuff that happens on
social media. My brother calls them cyber bullies.
Keyboard warriors. Keyboard cowards. Yeah, yeah.
If you ask me. And because, you know, we grew
up in an era where, okay, you had something to
say. They're brave behind a keyboard. No, you
did this, right? Yeah. You got that. Where's
the eight ball? Ask the eight ball question.
Okay, four times. All right. All right. Try again.
Ask again. They're keyboard cowards. Yeah, absolutely.
Anybody can be tough behind a keyboard, right?
And it's really bad. And then you've got like
the older generation that thinks it's screaming.
They don't even know what a keyboard is. And
you've got them and they like to scream and yell
at you, right? And I remember when I did real
estate and I had the first one. At least I'd
rather have them tell me that because at least
I know how you feel. Yeah, at least I know how
you feel. I'll stay away from you. I got you.
They're a very different world. through a lot
judge and I know there's a lot of people that
will say things about whether it's your appearance
that you look different That they don't have
to know a thing about you, your court or anything
like that. But we're just going to say whatever
we want to say behind this. But now I want to
get back to talking about that sense of entitlement
and talking about the new generation and talking
about the sensitivity. I saw a comment where
somebody said, oh, I heard her yelling at somebody
in her courtroom. And these are people that are
traumatized. Well, yeah, they're traumatized,
but I think we've all been yelled at. I think
we've all been traumatized, right? And we've
all been reprimanded. I will tell you, my kids
know. They'll be like, yeah, what would your
mom do? They're like, oh, you don't want to mess
with my mom. There's got to be a respect level
there. Well, and there's a ramp up. I'm going
to say just about every time that I have. met
someone's energy with their energy, there's a
ramp up to that response for me. They've either
stood there and insulted me, like to my face.
They have lied on the record. They come in not
prepared. They come in two hours late. You know,
so there's always a ramp up. And then they don't
like that I pointed out and it escalates. And
so... Or, you know, it's not always a lawyer.
It's the defendant that is, you know, not acting
within the parameters that they should be acting
in a court of law. They come in in pajamas and
animal slippers or they want to come in in a
tank top. No way. Or, you know. Because you know
that it don't matter if you've been in court
for whatever reason, you go with your Sunday's
best. And their response is, well, in the other
court, I said, well, you're not in another court.
And then that sets the tone for, oh, you think
you're better than other courts. No, we just
have rules in this court that are different than
other courts. And again, we have to think about
the population that this court services. It is
a population that's been accused at some level
of committing family violence. Think about that
personality type. Absolutely. Right? Now, yes,
everyone gets due process. You're innocent unless
proven guilty. But again, there's a certain undercurrent
of how you ended up in this court. There was
a certain type of allegation made against you.
This is not a shoplifting allegation. This is
not a loitering allegation. And you said for
the police to arrest you, that means that the
cops don't just come to your house to arrest
you because I said that you hit me and they usually
show up and they have to have a reason to arrest
you. They have their own markers, their own factors
they have to consider in deciding. one their
approach sometimes you know they never go in
there saying i'm going to arrest somebody no
their approach is get as much information as
possible assess is there a dangerous situation
here do these individuals need to be separated
to what level do they need to be separated and
is does this allegation that we weren't here
for in most cases i have to rely on other witnesses
to tell me what happened as an officer do I have
a responsibility to take someone into custody
and keep someone else safe? An officer has to
decide all that before they even come into our
court, right? And between the officer and the
court is the district attorney's office who's
going to decide whether to go forward with a
criminal charge or not. The arrest doesn't automatically
mean you did something wrong. It's a measure
that the officer took at that moment in time
to take control of the situation. And the assumption
in this country is that even if you were taken
into custody, you're deemed innocent unless it's
proven guilty or you take a guilty plea in a
court of law. And so those are challenges that
we have to address when preparing to do a trial,
because as a juror, I need to know if you're
going to hold that arrest against this defendant,
because if you are, you already have a bias against
them. You're already thinking that this individual
is guilty without even having gone to trial on
him. So, I mean, it's so many moving parts in
trying to manage how the courts run from, you
know, dealing with someone for the first time
in our court, getting frustrated because their
case isn't moving along and it's still in the
pre -file stage and we're going to reset you
for 90 days. Well, if you took the day off. If
you lost your job because of this arrest, if
you can't find a job because you have an open
family violence court case in our court, you're
really frustrated and oftentimes take it out
on the staff there, on the deputy, on the judge.
Does it make it appropriate? No, but I understand
your frustration, but that doesn't mean I give
you a pass on your behavior. And so those are
kind of like the daily challenges of dealing
with this particular type of case. Yeah. And
I think that for me, I think that. if they don't
walk in there and you don't reprimand them, right?
Just like me as a parent, like if I'm like, well,
I don't want you doing that no more. Don't do
that no more, okay? You know, I don't say that
to my kids, right? I've got to be strong and
I've got to, because I don't want them to do
it again. Well, and you know, one of the things
that I did before I became a lawyer was I was
a probation officer and there's a certain model
that you approach this populations with and it's
usually a triangle, right? One is rehabilitation,
the other is accountability and the other one's
community safety. And I still use that model
as a framework in some of the decisions that
I make. And so for me, when we were seeing the
consumer, the defendant in our office, we were
trained to make sure that this is not supposed
to be a field trip for this individual. This
is not a therapeutic setting by any measure.
This is still a court of law. And the trauma
part of it is used in reflejo court. Not with
the general population, although we use those
tools to assess volatile situations in the courtroom.
So you were part of two different courts then.
I thought it was just Reflejo Court. No. We have
a general family violence court. That's 13. And
then within that, we have a specialized program,
which is Reflejo Court for first -time offenders.
that want the help. I see. Okay. And that want
to get sober. Okay. So, but the general population
is anybody charged with family violence at the
misdemeanor level that landed in 13 because they
didn't land in seven, you know? So that's, and
so the trauma component is applicable for a federal
court. but not for the general, right? Because
I mean - I mean, I'm educated on it. I know what
to look for and how to deal with folks, but it's
not mandated that the general population be a
little bit, that we be more mindful of them than
the folks in the federal court. How long have
you been a judge now? I just finished seven years
in December. I'm in my eighth year. Congratulations.
Thank you. Thank you. And what is the protocol
to be a lawyer? Well, it just depends at what
level of the judiciary you want to serve. For
a justice of the peace, you don't need to be
a lawyer. And the education level is in flux.
There are justices of the peace across the state
that don't even have a high school diploma. Wow.
Now, as you move up the chain of command, for
lack of better words, county courts of law, you
have to have been a lawyer at least five years
before you can run to that position. Then you
have district courts. Right. And you have to
be, you know, the qualifications increase as
you move up. So county courts of law deal with
misdemeanors. District courts deal with civil
matters and with felonies, okay? And then you
have the appellate -level courts before you get
to the Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin and
the Texas Supreme Court. Now, you have different
branches of the judiciary. You have the judges
that work for the city of San Antonio, the municipal
court judges, right? The ones downtown on Frio.
That's a whole new separate set of judges, right,
that work for the city. All right. Then you have
judges that hear immigration cases. Those are
federal judges. And you have federal courts,
the Fifth Circuit. And so you have different
branches to the tree we know as the judiciary.
Do you have any aspirations to move up? Nope.
I have no. I'm in my 60s. Not supreme or anything?
I'm in my 60s. My aspiration is to retire at
65. That's my aspiration. Thank you, Jesus. I
don't see you doing it. But I think. I think,
Judge, that you're such an amazing person, I
think. And Judge, I saw you when you were running.
I remember how nasty people were to you. I was
just observing. We would be at the same events.
It was mainly women that were nasty to you. I
remember a few times it was Republican women.
I remember I've gone through now. Then afterwards,
once you were a judge, then it was men. that
were so uh threatened by you and they would try
to to unfortunately i've been uh being with la
prenta i've actually gotten the phone calls and
i've gotten people that have tried to undermine
you or tear you up And I've always made it very
clear to everybody that Judge Rosie is a friend
of La Prensa. And before you were a judge, you
were with us. This is Manguera Memories. And
one of the things that you did, I'm glad I wanted
to share this with you. The judge brought this
manuscript for me to read through. And I just
loved it. And I was like, OK, we're going to
feature this every week. And we're going to have
this special column for her. And you do get to
know the judge on a whole other level through
this because these are very personal memoirs
of her life growing up in Brownsville. And we're
not from Brownsville. So it does give you a lot
of perspective. But I tell everybody, like, she
was a friend of La Prensa. She didn't ask for
compensation. As a matter of fact, she said,
I would love for you to publish this if you want
to make this into a book. And all the proceeds
are yours. From scholarship, yeah. And so that
was huge. I mean, who does that? Right? Who doesn't?
What's in it for me? Look at me. Look what I
can do. Yeah, I'm more about cash. Yeah. Cashola.
He is. You don't even know how much I had to
pay him to be here. Oh, my goodness. I'm just
kidding. Chilaquiles, please. Chilaquiles. If
he was lucky. Yeah. Interestingly enough, I never
heard the word chilaquiles until I moved here.
Is that right? I've never seen chilaquiles on
the menu. I didn't know what that was. I used
to do migas. Migas. See, I know it as migas,
and my wife calls it chilaquiles. She loves chilaquiles.
Well, the other phenomenon moving here was that,
you know, I was not very tuned into Tex -Mex
food. And so border food is Mexico. Yeah. Okay.
And so you didn't see yellow cheese on everything.
Right. And you get to San Antonio and it's yellow
cheese on everything. And I'm like, what the
hell? I didn't even know what white cheese was
until I became an adult because everything was
yellow. I grew up with yellow, you know, yellow.
It was American cheese. Or a government -issued
cheese. Oh, that was the best. The bucket. I
was going to ask you because you mentioned the
jury a little earlier. And, you know, I have
to tell the story. My dad had, may he rest in
peace, but when he was alive, he had got called
for jury duty. And my dad went in there and we
go, Dad, you know, he doesn't go anywhere. He's,
like, real antisocial. He's, like, doesn't like
people at all. The attorney asked him, what do
you think about, you know, we put you in this
situation, you know, if this lady took you out
and decided she wanted to steal your wallet,
what would you want to do to have her done? And
my dad said... Shoot her in the face. Oh my goodness.
I'm like, yeah, we're good. So thank you very
much. We don't need you. Strike that jury. He's
good to go. He didn't want to do it. He said,
shoot her in the face. I had a jury one time
come in and as soon as the attorney started asking
him questions about their feelings about the
case, the guy turns around and goes, he's guilty.
I can feel it. I can feel it. He's guilty. And
the attorney said, I said, thank you for your
service, sir. He knew exactly what to say, didn't
he? I got out just by being on the news. They
said, get out of here. Really? They said, get
out of here. You're going to go tell all the
dirt? No, they said, no, you're good. You're
good? You're good. You're good. Well, Judge,
we want to thank you for your service, for your
leadership and being the heart of this community.
I hope that you will continue to do what you
do. It's very disheartening to hear you say that
you're ready to retire, but I don't see you.
I see you retiring as a judge, but I don't see
you retiring as serving this community. And the
whole court reminds us that justice can reflect
humanity. Absolutely. And humanity first, right?
Yes, ma 'am. And to our listeners, if you or
someone you know may qualify for Reflejo Court.
Yeah, they can contact Terry Benavides at County
Court 13. They just need to Google it. Or Francia
Garcia at County Court 13 and ask to be reviewed
for Reflejo Court. Very good. Second chances
do change lives. Yes. And we believe in... higher
accountability can lead to someone really, really
getting redemption. This has been Let's Talk
About It because your voice matters, your vote
matters, and your future matters. All of it.
So let's keep talking about it. Congratulations.
Thank you, Clifford. Thank you. Thank you for
joining us on Let's Talk About It. We appreciate
you being part of the conversation and staying
engaged on the issues that matter most to our
community. Make sure to follow us on the La Prensa
Texas website for updates and stay tuned for
our next episode. We'll see you soon.