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Left: Lizelle Herrera appears in a booking photo (via KRGV). Right: Starr County District Attorney Gocha Ramirez (via Starr County, Tex.)
The Texas district attorney who filed murder charges against a woman who had a self-managed abortion — and then dropped the charges days later — has had his law license placed on a “probated suspension” as a result of his “professional misconduct” and will have to pay costs for his disciplinary investigation.
The office of Starr County District Attorney Gocha Ramirez had initiated murder charges against Lizelle Herrera, who had a self-managed abortion, in April 2022. He dropped the charges days later, following outcry and protests.
“It is agreed and ordered that the sanction of a Probated Suspension shall be imposed against [Ramirez] and is in accordance with Part XV of the Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure,” a judgment from the Texas Bar grievance committee says. “Accordingly, it is ordered, adjudged and decreed that Respondent be suspended from the practice of law for a period of 1 year with the suspension being fully probated pursuant to the terms stated below. The period of probated suspension shall begin on April 1, 2024 and shall end on March 31, 2025.”
The “terms” by which Ramirez must abide include not engaging in professional misconduct, violating any state or federal criminal law.
According to the judgment, a prosecutor under Ramirez’s supervision “sought to pursue criminal homicide charges against an individual for acts clearly not criminal” under Texas law.
“[Ramirez] failed to refrain from prosecuting a charge that was known not to be supported by probable cause,” the judgment says, adding that the DA “knowingly permitted the conduct” of the prosecutor under his direct supervision.
Ramirez “denied to the Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel that he was aware of the facts of the case, nor that he was ever briefed on the facts of the case, prior to the matter being presented to the Grand Jury,” according to the judgment. Ramirez was also found to have “knowingly made a false statement of material fact in his written response to the complaint.”
In addition to the probated suspension, Ramirez will pay $1,250 in attorneys’ fees and expenses associated with this disciplinary proceeding.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, it was believed that medical professionals reported Herrera to officials.
Read the judgment here.
