McALLEN, Texas — A federal judge in McAllen on Wednesday denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against Starr County officials brought by Lizelle Gonzalez, a South Texas woman who was unlawfully charged with murder after a self-induced abortion.
Gonzalez spent two days in Starr County jail, garnering national attention for the charges from behind bars —an experience that her attorney Cecilia Garza says changed her life forever.
“She does suffer from anxiety. A lot of it related to the arrest and the incarceration,” Garza said. “She wasn’t able to be here today because she was just concerned about how it might affect her. But she’s very happy with today’s rulings.”
The arrest happened just before the Supreme court overturned Roe V Wade.
Even though abortions after six weeks were illegal at the time in Texas, state law doesn’t allow people to be prosecuted for their own abortions.
Starr County District Attorney Gocha A. Ramirez and Assistant District Attorney Alexandria Lynn Barrera filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit in May, citing a legal principle known as the immunity doctrine.
The immunity doctrine provides protections to public officials from legal repercussions, but with some exceptions for violations of civil rights.
In the case of Ramirez and Barrera, attorneys for Gonzales say they intend to show that “prosecutorial immunity” can not be granted in this case, since the allegations fall outside of the county officials’ work as prosecutors.
On Wednesday, a federal judge agreed that discovery was necessary in any case that alleged wrongdoing that wasn’t protected by immunity.
Gonzalez’s attorney’s still must provide proof for their allegations and show intent on the part of Starr County officials.
Lauren Johnson is Director of the Abortion Criminal Defense Initiative at the American Civil Liberties Union, and is representing Gonzalez.
She said the ACLU is ready to address the legal claims to immunity raised by Starr County officials in order to continue with the case.
“We’ll be doing some discovery on the question of the immunity claims that the defendants have raised as to the DA’s and prosecutor’s claim that they are not liable,” Johnson said. “Our goal is to continue this fight to the point of trial.”
The lawsuit, which seeks $1 million in damages, claims that officials misrepresented facts to a grand jury and conspired to maliciously prosecute without probable cause.
Garza said outside of federal court that the legal team has information they intend to make admissible in court to prove intent.
“We do have a good faith basis for every allegation that we’ve made and we anticipate that this limited discovery will get us there,” Garza said.
Legal counsel for Starr County told TPR he had no comment on the case and does not take media interviews.
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