NUECES COUNTY, Texas — The effort to remove Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez will proceed to trial after a Texas Judge David Peeples issued a citation on Monday ordering a trial by jury. Peeples was called in by the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court to preside over the case after the recusal of a local court due to potential conflicts of interest.
“This is certainly a victory in our efforts to help restore law and order for the citizens of Nueces County,” said Jonathan Hullihan, Deputy General Counsel for Citizens Defending Freedom, a non-profit dedicated to equipping American citizens to defend their liberty at the local level.
The citation was in response to a lawsuit filed by Nueces County resident Colby Wiltse, who alleges in his legal complaint that Gonzalez should be removed from office due to gross incompetency, negligence, official misconduct, failure to give bond, and many more complaints. Wiltse is the Texas State Director of Citizens Defending Freedom.
According to the complaint, Gonzalez is rarely in the office and often unable to be reached remotely. Key card records for county employees over the last year indicate that Gonzalez typically only reported to work about eight days per month on average, the complaint says.
Furthermore, of the Texas counties where more than 10,000 criminal cases were reported in 2021, Nueces County was the only county in Texas where cases dismissed by the prosecutor before charges were filed, outnumbered cases that were disposed of by the court system. Under Gonzalez’s watch, roughly one out of four arrests resulted in a disposition through the court system.
“None of this is shocking once you see who exactly Mr. Gonzalez is associated with,” said Hullihan. “This is a guy who is just like the company he keeps. He is publicly part of Fair and Just Prosecution, an outfit supported by George Soros’s Tides Foundation, which is dedicated to destroying our justice system by refusing to prosecute crimes.”
Fair and Just Prosecution promises to end what it calls “mass incarceration” and calls to “transform the criminal legal system.” According to Influence Watch, Fair and Just Prosecution is a project of the Tides Center, which is funded by Soros, among other billionaires.
In October, Gonzalez was speaking to a class at Harvard University and was joined on a panel by Sarah George, the state attorney for Chittenden County in Vermont. Both Gonzalez and George are listed as members of Fair and Just Prosecution’s “Movement.”
During the panel in which George and Gonzalez participated, George admitted that her ultimate goal was to literally “dismantle the criminal legal system” and in one of her very first acts after becoming the state attorney, she brags about firing all the prosecutors and hiring public defenders to replace those charged with prosecuting criminal cases.
“Judge Peeples’s citation is a major step towards removing Mark Gonzalez, who we believe to be derelict in his official duties as Nueces County District Attorney,” said Hullihan. “We have the utmost confidence in the judicial process, and we are laser focused on the upcoming jury trial, which we believe will result in Gonzalez’s removal from office.”
Nueces County Attorney Jenny Dorsey will prosecute the case.
Earlier this week, Gonzalez appeared before Nueces County commissioners to request for the county to cover the costs of his legal representation.
Those interested in supporting Citizens Defending Freedom and their efforts related to legal cases like this one can donate by visiting citizensdefendingfreedom.com.
About Citizens Defending Freedom:
Founded in 2021, Citizens Defending Freedom is a non-profit organization that strategically employs county-level affiliates across America to help citizens defend their faith and freedom, all while fighting for transparency in local government. Currently, ‘CDF’ has official affiliates in Florida, Georgia and Texas. The group is rapidly expanding its footprint, and expects to grow into one of America’s largest political nonprofits. Click here to learn more about ‘CDF’.