A hearing on a protective order sought by missing Harlingen attorney Ernesto Gonzales was postponed Thursday morning when he did not show up in court.
A hearing on a protective order sought by missing Harlingen attorney Ernesto Gonzales was postponed Thursday morning when he did not show up in court.
Senior retired Judge Robert Garza presided over the hearing, which took place in 107th state District Court. Garza reset the hearing for 9 a.m. Aug. 10 in 138th state District Court, which is where Gonzales originally filed his request for a protective order.
“Mr. Gonzales is missing. I don’t know what the circumstances are, so I do not know the status of your case,” Garza said to Gloria E. Gonzalez, Jose M. Gonzalez, Rudy Ramirez, Franchisca Nicole Vilafana and Valerie Gonzales, the respondents named in Gonzales’ application for the protective order.
The judge had assembled the five respondents, who are extended family members, in front of him at the beginning of the proceeding.
“The only thing really that I can do is reset your case. … What’s more important right now is that we find Mr. Gonzales,” Garza said.
The judge on July 18 signed a temporary protective order in the case. At Wednesday’s hearing he said that he would not change anything in the order and that it would remain in effect until the Aug. 10 hearing.
Gonzales filed for the protective order on July 13. He went missing on July 18.
