Attorneys for a Rio Grande City woman who was briefly charged with murder after she took abortion pills want a jury to decide a legal argument in a federal lawsuit.

David Donatti is representing Lizzelle Gonzalez, who filed a lawsuit against Starr County officials following her April 2022 arrest.

Gonzalez spent three days in jail and was released when the murder charge was dismissed.

Texas law prevents murder charges from being brought up against the individual who undergoes an abortion. 

“Texas homicide statute explicitly does not apply to pregnant women who terminate their own pregnancy, it's clear as day,” Donatti said. 

The lawsuit accuses the Starr County District Attorney and assistant district attorney of misleading grand jurors to formally charge Gonzalez with murder.

“Negligence does not explain this oversight, it is the role and function of prosecutors to be aware of the elements in statutes they are charging,” Donatti said.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton denied a request to dismiss the federal lawsuit.

READ MORE: Starr County abortion lawsuit can move forward, judge rules

Jennifer Laurin, a law professor at UT Austin, says the judge’s decision means the plaintiff's argument carries "some" weight.

“The law by design — for a number of policy reasons — make it extremely difficult to hold prosecutors as well as police to account for mistakes made in the legal process, but even for conduct that goes beyond mistakes,” Laurin said. “By allowing the case to continue at this stage, the court has at least found that the plaintiffs have in good faith alleged something beyond mere ‘oopsie daisy.’"

Starr County District Attorney Gocha Ramirez has apologized multiple times since he dropped the murder charge, and even called the initial arrest a “mistake.”

Laurin says the judge's ruling in favor of Gonzalez means her attorneys will have to prove that the DA and Starr County Sheriff didn't just make a mistake interpreting the law, but intentionally did not follow it.

Gonzalez is asking for one million dollars in damages. An attorney for the district attorney told Channel 5 News he wouldn't comment. 

A date for a new court hearing has not been set as of Friday.

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