Must a Plaintiff Who Alleges That Officers Arrested Her in Retaliation for Protected First Amendment Speech Show That Officers Lacked Probable Cause for the Arrest, When the Plaintiff's Arrest Was Unique and When the Arrest Occurred Over a Month After the Protected Speech?

In 2019, the city council for Castle Hills, Texas, held a contentious, two-day meeting over a citizen petition to remove the city manager. Sylvia Gonzalez, a recently elected member of the city council, organized the petition. After the meeting, Mayor Edward Trevino asked Gonzalez where the petition was, and asked her to look in her binder. To her surprise, Gonzalez located the petition in her binder and handed it to Trevino. A few days after the meeting Trevino filed a criminal complaint alleging that Gonzalez tried to steal city records. After a month-long investigation, the investigator obtained an arrest warrant for Gonzalez, but the district attorney ultimately dismissed the charges. Gonzalez sued, alleging that Trevino, the chief of police, and the investigator unlawfully arrested her in retaliation for exercising her First Amendment rights, including her right to organize the petition drive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]