On Monday, September 22, 2025, Injustice Watch reported that Cook County Circuit Judge Ruth Gudino, who was previously accused of inappropriate physical contact, has been reassigned following a battery complaint filed by a clerk. The clerk, who was assigned to the domestic violence courtroom in the Markham courthouse, alleged that Gudino pushed him away from his computer.
According to a police report obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, the clerk stated that Judge Gudino pushed him with enough force that he lost his balance, reportedly after she became frustrated with the speed of his work. The incident allegedly occurred on July 16, and the clerk also reported it in a date-stamped memo to Tommy Brewer, the presiding judge in Markham.
A sheriff’s office detective investigated the incident and recommended the case be classified as “unfounded.” As of the report, no charges have been filed against Judge Gudino.
Following inquiries from Injustice Watch about the incident, Judge Brewer reassigned Gudino to a “floater” role within the courthouse, effective September 22. A spokesperson for Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans stated that Evans is also assigning a peer mentor to support Gudino.
Judge Gudino did not provide a comment to Injustice Watch, nor did she speak to detectives. However, her attorney, Todd Pugh, stated to the sheriff’s office that Gudino “made no physical contact to [the clerk] at any time.” Pugh’s letter claimed the clerk “struggled with high-volume courtrooms,” and on the day of the alleged incident, Gudino had asked the clerk multiple times to print a document. According to Pugh, Gudino, frustrated, asked the clerk to step away from the computer so she could print the document herself.
This is not the first accusation of inappropriate physical contact against Gudino, who was elected in 2022. Prior to her election, Injustice Watch reported that Gudino had been reported by her supervisor for alleged unwanted touching, bullying, and other workplace misconduct during her time as a county prosecutor.
In a 2018 memo to his superiors, Dan Groth, then a supervising Cook County assistant state’s attorney at the Maywood courthouse, stated that Gudino had “engaged in unwanted touching of several” fellow prosecutors. Groth detailed instances of “unwanted contact with the lower back, shoulders, waist areas, and pants pocket areas.” He also described an incident where Gudino allegedly encouraged a female assistant state’s attorney “to wear more revealing clothing in the bust area,” and another in which Gudino “tugged or pulled” a prosecutor’s ear and “wrapped her hands around another [assistant state’s attorney]’s neck to simulate strangling him.”
Gudino has denied these allegations, and the state’s attorney’s office previously stated that the allegations were “unsubstantiated.”
In a 2022 statement to Injustice Watch, Gudino said, “I have never engaged in inappropriate behavior, either professionally or personally… I have never been subject to an investigation for misconduct because there has never been a credible allegation lodged because nothing ever happened.”
Source: Injustice Watch
