The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a retaliatory arrest claim brought by Texas city councilwoman who says she was arrested for misplacing a petition she circulated criticizing the city manager and pushing for his removal.
The justices agreed Friday to hear the case, Sylvia Gonzalez v. Edward Trevino et al., brought by Sylvia Gonzalez of Castle Hill, Texas, a town of just under 4,000 people.
Ms. Gonzalez was arrested and put in jail for a day after she misplaced the petition in her binder at a council meeting. It was discovered at the end of the meeting, and officials charged her with attempting to conceal a government document that she had in fact spearheaded.
The district attorney eventually dropped the charges, so she was never convicted. But Ms. Gonzalez gave up her council seat over the embarrassment of her mug shot being circulated on local news.
“They still succeeded in their goal. Gonzalez was so hurt by the experience and so embarrassed by the media coverage of her arrest, that she gave up her council seat and swore off organizing petitions or criticizing her government,” her lawyers told the court.
The legal battle began after Ms. Gonzalez won an election against an incumbent roughly four years ago on the promise to unseat the city manager, claiming he was involved in corrupt practices. She organized a “FIX OUR STREETS” petition and moved to reinstate the previous city manager.
At Ms. Gonzalez’s first council meeting, a constituent presented the petition, which caused chaos. The meeting had to be continued to another day and during the debate, Ms. Gonzalez inadvertently placed the petition in her binder, according to her court papers.
Mayor Edward Trevino and other individuals launched an investigation and eventually had her arrested on a misdemeanor charge of “intentionally destroy[ing], conceal[ing], remov[ing], or otherwise impair[ing] the verity, legibility, or availability of a government record.”
She claimed in court that the statute had never been used in the past 10 years to jail someone for any sort of similar conduct. She found that in Bexar County, Texas, the law had been used against those falsifying green cards, concealing evidence of murder and counterfeiting government records and Social Security numbers.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Ms. Gonzalez because she couldn’t point to an example of another individual who was targeted for similar political conduct and misplacing a similar petition or government document.
The three-judge panel reasoned that for her to be able to sue the individuals, she needed to show another person — like herself — who was engaged in the same kind of actions but not arrested in order to reveal unequal treatment.
The high court decided to review that lower court’s reasoning. It took four justices to vote in favor of hearing Ms. Gonzalez’s dispute. A date for oral arguments has not yet been set.
Attorneys for Mr. Trevino and other defendants detailed in the filing had asked the justices not to take up the case. They said the investigation into tampering with a government record was thorough and qualified immunity applied.
“Respondents disagree with how Petitioner chose to describe the factual background of the matter,” they said in the court filing.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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