Lizelle Gonzalez, a Texas woman falsely charged with murder in 2022 for an alleged self-induced abortion, filed a lawsuit Thursday against Starr County, District Attorney Gocha Ramirez, and Assistant District Attorney Alexandria Barrera.
Gonzalez, whose last name was Herrera at the time of her arrest, went to the county’s emergency hospital on Jan. 7, 2022, after using misoprostol to “purportedly induce an abortion” while 19 weeks pregnant, according to the lawsuit.
During her examination, doctors discovered a fetal heartbeat but no contractions. After an overnight stay, the hospital released Gonzalez and instructed her to return in four days. She came back 40 minutes later with a vaginal hemorrhage and stomach pain. At that point, doctors confirmed that there was no fetal heartbeat and conducted a cesarean section to deliver the stillborn baby.
Three months later, on April 7, 2022, they captured Gonzalez. Defendant Ramirez’s decision to dismiss the unfounded charges against her freed her after she spent three days in the Starr County Jail.
Texas had a six-week abortion prohibition at the time, but state law also protected women from criminal punishment for obtaining abortions.
According to the lawsuit, Ramirez and Barrera were aware that abortions were immune from criminal penalties under the Texas penal code, and they “proceeded to provide the grand jury with false and misleading information and omissions in order to secure” a murder conviction.
“Had Defendants Ramirez and Barrera been truthful, there would not have been any legal basis for the indictment and ensuing arrest,” according to the complaint.
“Upon information and belief, Defendants Ramirez and Barrera conspired to, and did, present false information and recklessly misrepresented facts in order to pursue murder charges against Plaintiff for acts clearly not criminal under the Texas Penal Code,” according to the complaint.
Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that neither the sheriff’s office nor the local police department investigated Gonzalez or the events leading up to the murder allegation.
Instead, the lawsuit argues, the DA’s office “initiated and conducted its own investigation based on reports from hospital personnel,” which would have violated “federal privacy laws.”
According to the lawsuit, Ramirez received professional punishment for “his knowing conduct in prosecuting Plaintiff for acts clearly not criminal.”
Nonetheless, “the fallout from defendants’ illegal and unconstitutional actions has forever changed the plaintiff’s life,” according to Gonzalez’s attorneys. They point to the case’s widespread national media coverage at the time.
Numerous news outlets widely published Gonzalez’s mug shot, identifying her by name, according to the lawyers, who added that the “unfounded charges” are still accessible online.
“Furthermore, because the allegations related to abortion, a contentious political issue, did not result in less media coverage, “Rather, the media’s attention was heightened following the dismissal because the prosecution was baseless,” the lawsuit states.
“As a result of the defendants’ unconstitutional actions, the plaintiff endured the humiliation of a highly publicized indictment and arrest, which has irrevocably harmed her reputation in the community. Plaintiff would not have incurred these injuries if the defendants had not acted in this manner.”
Gonzalez seeks more than $1 million in damages, including mental anguish and reputational harm, as well as past and future lost wages and earnings potential.
