A Texas district lawyer introduced in a press release on Sunday that he will file a movement to dismiss the indictment against Lizelle Herrera, the 26-year-old woman who attracted nationwide consideration after being arrested on Thursday and charged with murder after authorities stated she “caused the death of an individual by self-induced abortion.”
“In reviewing applicable Texas law, it is clear that Ms. Herrera cannot and should not be prosecuted for the allegation against her,” stated District Attorney Gocha Allen Ramirez, who represents the counties of Starr, Jim Hogg and Duval.
Ramirez stated within the assertion that he knowledgeable Herrera’s lawyer on Saturday of his plan to file the movement for dismissal on Monday.
Herrera’s lawyer, Calixtro Villarreal, declined to touch upon the news.
“Prosecutorial discretion rests with the District Attorney’s office, and in the State of Texas a prosecutor’s oath is to do justice,” Ramirez added in his assertion. “Following that oath, the only correct outcome to this matter is to immediately dismiss the indictment against Ms. Herrera.”
It is unclear whether or not Herrera is accused of getting an abortion herself or whether or not she assisted another person in acquiring one.
After being arrested on Thursday, Herrera was held on a $500,000 bond within the Starr County jail in Rio Grande City via Saturday, when she was launched and secured authorized counsel. Activist teams protested Herrera’s arrest and have sought to lift cash for her authorized charges.
In his assertion, Ramirez stopped in need of blaming Texas police for making the arrest within the first place.
“In reviewing this case, it is clear that the Starr County Sheriff’s Department did their duty in investigating the incident brought to their attention by the reporting hospital, he said. “To ignore the incident would have been a dereliction of their duty.”
Herrera’s case comes on the heels of a Texas legislation handed final yr that bans abortions for folks as early as six weeks pregnant and permits non-public residents to sue anybody who aides an individual in acquiring an abortion, together with docs, awarding them as much as $10,000 for profitable lawsuits. Pregnant folks themselves are exempt from being prosecuted underneath the legislation.
Another state legislation additionally handed final yr forbids docs and clinics from prescribing abortion remedy after the seventh week of being pregnant and prohibits supply of the tablets by mail.