BATON ROUGE — Judge Eboni Johnson Rose got directly to business Wednesday morning after returning to her 19th JDC bench, not addressing her nearly year-long suspension and controversy.

Rose was suspended from her post at the 19th JDC in August 2024. The Judiciary Commission suspended her after a series of controversial cases she presided over, including one where she convicted Baton Rouge Police officer Donald Steele of a crime that did not exist, the WBRZ Investigative Unit reported. 

Rose also took more than the legal amount of time off an arsonist’s sentence, something she later called a “regrettable oversight.”

The judge’s lawyer said that none of her errors were intended to benefit her.

The Judicial Commission board later ordered her to pay over $11,000 for the cost of their investigation. WBRZ previously reported that Rose's received more than $100,000 of her salary while replacement judges earned more than $60,000. She also received a $15,000 stipend.

Rose did not comment on the situation in her first ten minutes in court.