Skip navigation
Prison Legal News
× You have 2 more free articles available this month. Subscribe today.

Texas Prosecutor Gets Fine, Probated Bar Suspension After Jailing Woman for Abortion

Loaded on Aug. 15, 2024 published in Prison Legal News August, 2024, page 43
Filed under: Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Abortion, Attorney Misconduct, Fines. Location: Texas.

On January 25, 2024, the Texas Bar Association issued a probated suspension to Starr County District Attorney Gocha A. Ramirez, after finding he “sought to pursue criminal homicide charges against an individual for acts clearly not criminal” when he jailed Lizelle Herrera, 26, on a $500,000 bond in April 2022 for a self-­induced abortion.

Herrera was released two days later when Ramirez dropped murder charges against her, admitting that she never should have been arrested. State law criminalizing abortion targets providers and specifically exempts the mother carrying a fetus. So it was unclear what prompted the charges against Herrera; however, a member of Ramirez’s staff represented Herrera’s former husband in a divorce action filed the same day.

In a settlement reached with the Bar, Ramirez agreed to a one-­year suspension from April 1, 2024, through March 31, 2025, probated on condition he doesn’t violate any other laws. He was also required to pay $1,250 in costs and fees. While on probation, he can continue to practice law in the state and serve as county prosecutor. See: In re Ramirez, Tex. Bar. File No. 202202571 (2024).  

Additional source: Texas Tribune

As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.

Subscribe today

Already a subscriber? Login

More from this issue:

  1. After Spike in Jail Deaths, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Under California Department of Justice Investigation, by Matthew Clarke
  2. From the Editor, by Paul Wright
  3. California Prisoner’s Generosity for Gaza Rewarded With Over $100,000
  4. $7.5 Million Settlement in Suit Over California Jail Death, by Matthew Clarke
  5. Arizona DOC Agrees to Pay $2,650,000 in Legal Fees and Costs in Long-Running PLN Censorship Suit
  6. Unintended Consequence of Texas Prisoner Tablets: Retaliation from Fellow Prisoners
  7. Virginia Takes Back One Prison from GEO Group, Closes Four More
  8. Pilot Jail Diversion Program Opens for Mentally Ill Arrestees in Austin
  9. Oregon Transgender Prisoner Claims Abusive Violation of Injunction, but Court Declines Sanctions, by Matthew Clarke
  10. Contractor Fined $300,000 for Illegal Asbestos Dumping at Wisconsin Federal Prison
  11. “Too brutal, too disgusting”: Prison Guards Flee as Working Conditions Worsen
  12. Kentucky Parole Officer Gets Three Years for Sexually Assaulting Probationers, by Matthew Clarke
  13. 46 New York Prisoners Accuse Guards of Beatings—Even Waterboarding, by Douglas Ankney
  14. Tennessee DOC Rewards CoreCivic with Pay Increase Despite Critical Watchdog Audit
  15. New York Revises 2,772 Prisoner Disciplinary Records After Inspector General Finds Defects in Another Contraband Drug Test, by Douglas Ankney
  16. Illinois Parole Board Member Resigns After Violator Turns Deadly
  17. Dead Rikers Island Detainees Had Missed Dozens of Mental Health Appointments
  18. Inspectors Catch L.A. Jailers Watching Porn
  19. Eighth Circuit: Perfect Adherence to Burdened Beliefs Not Required to Demonstrate Sincerity under RLUIPA, by Douglas Ankney
  20. Warden and Deputy Out at Kentucky Prison As DOC Investigates Guard Misconduct
  21. Florida Jail Chief’s Firing Upheld, Retaliation Lawsuit Headed to Trial
  22. Eleventh Circuit Denies Qualified Immunity to Georgia Jailers Who Housed White Detainee With Black Cellmate Held for Racially Motivated Attack
  23. Cheap Food Enriching Profiteers, Making Prisoners Sick
  24. Riot at California GEO Group Lockup Sends Message to U.S. Marshals
  25. Federal Judge Calls BOP Brooklyn Lockup Too Deplorable to House Defendant
  26. Prisoner Admissions Soar at Massachusetts Psychiatric Lockup Plagued by Overcrowding and Violence
  27. $275,000 Settlement for Wisconsin Jail Detainee’s Death from Untreated Heart Infection
  28. 1,200 Washington Prisoners Lose Laptops After One Shows Up on eBay
  29. BOP is Holding 12,000 Prisoners in Solitary Confinement, by David Reutter
  30. Fifth Savannah Jail Employee Arrested for Smuggling in Just Over a Year
  31. Massachusetts Prison Closure Reflects Success of Criminal Justice Reforms
  32. Tennessee Sheriff Indicted for Massive Prisoner Work-Release Fraud
  33. Report Finds Exploitative Disciplinary Fines in One-Third of U.S. Prison Systems
  34. Arrested for Stealing Snacks, Baltimore Diabetic Dies in Jail
  35. Fourth Circuit Revives Claim Over North Carolina Jail Suicide, by Douglas Ankney
  36. Georgia Guard Fired, Charged With Setting Up Assault that Left Prisoner Dead
  37. Illinois Prisoner Succumbs to Heat Wave
  38. Arizona Agrees to $40,000 Settlement in Suit Over Mentally Ill Prisoner’s Suicide, by Douglas Ankney
  39. Fourth Circuit Chides Virginia Magistrate for Assuming Prisoners Proceed IFP, by Douglas Ankney
  40. New Mexico Jail Sued Again After Paying $787,500 In-Custody Death Settlement
  41. First Circuit Tolls Claim for Maine Jail Death from Date of Detainee’s Injury, Rather Than When He Died, by Douglas Ankney
  42. Psychiatrist Settles Virginia Jail Suicide Suit for $1.75 Million
  43. Florida Court Strikes $10 Million of $16 Million Judgment Against Armor Correctional Health in Jail Death, by David Reutter
  44. Criminalizing Poverty Drives Mass Incarceration in Kentucky, Washington, by Douglas Ankney
  45. Settlements Total $3.85 Million for Nevada Prisoners Hit with Birdshot, by David Reutter
  46. Indiana Supreme Court Says “Summary Judgment Is Not Summary Trial,” Remanding State Prisoner’s Malpractice Claim to a Jury
  47. Missouri Warden, Four Guards Out After Prisoner’s Fatal Beating
  48. Texas Prosecutor Gets Fine, Probated Bar Suspension After Jailing Woman for Abortion
  49. Fourth Circuit Grants Qualified Immunity to Guards Who Left North Carolina Prisoner to Eat with Feces-Soiled Hands
  50. Alaska Supreme Court Revives Prisoner’s Claim for 11-Month Solitary Confinement That DOC Admitted Was Improper, by Douglas Ankney
  51. Washington Prisoner’s Sentence Vacated After Attorney Calls and Visits Were Recorded, by Douglas Ankney
  52. $11 Million Settlement for Exonerated Michigan Prisoner, by David Reutter
  53. 3,500 Body-Worn Cameras Recalled from Rikers Island Guards After One Catches Fire
  54. No Dismissal for San Diego Jail Medical Contractor from Suit Filed Over Detainee’s Withdrawal Death
  55. Ending Prison Slavery on the Ballot in California, Nevada
  56. Nevada DOC Under Fire for Hiring Unlicensed Medical Director
  57. Addicted to Punishment: Jails and Prisons Punish Drug Use Far More Than They Treat It, by Emily Widra
  58. Intellectually Disabled Georgia Prisoner Executed After SCOTUS Denies Appeal
  59. Mississippi Prison Warden Suspended After Security Chief Caught Smuggling
  60. Alabama Denies Parole to Dead Prisoner
  61. Maryland Pardons 175,000 Marijuana Misdemeanor Convictions
  62. Condemned Alabama Prisoner Challenges Execution by Nitrogen Hypoxia, by David Reutter
  63. Colorado Lawmakers Take a Pass on Cash Assistance for Released Prisoners, by Douglas Ankney
  64. South Carolina Supreme Court Grants Prisoner Credit for Time Served Awaiting Revocation of Supervised Release
  65. Bar Complaint Revives 10-Year-Old Question: Why No Charges Filed Against Florida Guards Who Killed Prisoner?, by David Reutter
  66. News in Brief
  67. Pro-Navalny Hackers Breach Russian Prison Computers, Lower Commissary Prices

More from these topics: