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STARR COUNTY, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A woman who was arrested on a murder charge, which was later dismissed, following an abortion is now suing Starr County and its district attorney.
Lizelle Gonzalez, known at the time as Lizelle Herrera, was arrested in April 2022 on a charge of murder after authorities claimed she caused the death of a child “by self-induced abortion.”
Later that same month, Starr County District Attorney Gocha Allen Ramirez issued a statement that his office would be filing a motion to dismiss the indictment against Gonzalez, adding that “it is clear that Ms. [Gonzalez] cannot and should not be prosecuted for the allegation against her.”
Gonzalez filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday against the county, Starr County District Attorney Ramirez and Assistant District Attorney Alexandria Lynn Barrera.
According to the lawsuit, Gonzalez went to the Starr County Memorial Hospital on Jan. 7, 2022, at 19 weeks during her pregnancy, “with abortion attempt” after using “Cytotec Icetrogen 400 mcg” to induce an abortion.
After an examination revealed no contractions and a positive fetal heart rate, Gonzalez was discharged home the following day with a diagnosis of abdominal pains and was asked to follow up the next week, the lawsuit stated.
However, less than an hour after being discharged, the lawsuit states that Gonzalez was taken to the hospital via EMS with complaints of abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding.
“Examination in the emergency department by revealed no fetal cardiac activity and ‘incomplete spontaneous abortion,” the document stated.
The lawsuit continues by stating that employees of the hospital then violated federal privacy laws by reporting her self-induced abortion to the district attorney’s office.
Gonzalez claims that the Starr County Sheriff’s Office nor the Rio Grande City Police Department did not perform an investigation into the facts or circumstances surrounding the murder charge.
“Rather, the Starr County District Attorney’s Office, by and through its assistant district attorney, Defendant Alexandria Lynn Barrera, initiated and performed its own investigation based on reports from hospital personnel,” the lawsuit stated.
The lawsuit states that Barrera took the case to Ramirez prior to the investigation and presentation of the case to a grand jury, adding that the district attorney’s office had its “own policy of initiating and performing its own investigations before involving police.”
Gonzalez claims that Ramirez and Berrera made misrepresentations of the facts and the law to a grand jury, which led to “malicious prosecution” against her.
“At Plaintiff’s grand jury presentation, Defendants Ramirez and Barrera, and other co-conspirators were aware that Section 19.06 of the Texas Penal Code exempted the death of an
unborn child from the statute pertaining to murder ‘if the conduct charged is: (1) conduct
committed by the mother of the unborn child,’” the lawsuit stated.
However, Gonzalez claims that Ramirez and Barrera provided the grand jury with false information and omissions in order to secure the indictment.
The lawsuit states that Gonzalez spend three days in the Starr County Jail after being arrested before the decision to dismiss the charges against her. She also references the media attention the case received, with her mugshot being shared in national headlines through internet news sites and the television.
Due to this, Gonzalez says she was subjected to humiliation due to the highly publicized indictment and arrest, which “permanently affected her standing in the community.”
Gonzalez is seeking $1 million for the damages, past and future mental anguish, past and future lost wages and loss of earning capacity, the lawsuit stated.
Last month, the State Bar of Texas ordered Ramirez to a probated suspension beginning on April 1 and ending March 31, 2025 for “failing to refrain from prosecuting a charge that was known not to be supported by probable cause.”
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