Judge Gonzalez Admonished Over Bail Bond Conflict

A Judge Who Also Represents a Bail Bondsman

Mario Gonzalez presides over the municipal court in Horizon City, a small community outside El Paso, where he sets bail in Class C misdemeanor cases. He also practices law privately, and among his clients is Pascual Olibas, a bail bondsman. For years, the Commission found, Gonzalez’s representation of Olibas has included speaking publicly against bail reform measures such as personal recognizance bonds, which let defendants be released without paying a bondsman, on local television, in comments to newspapers, and in presentations to El Paso County’s Commissioners Court.

In one instance in 2020, Gonzalez gave a television interview to a local ABC affiliate about bail reform in which he was identified by his judicial title and described as Horizon City’s municipal court judge. He argued publicly that El Paso was less safe because repeat offenders released on personal recognizance bonds were committing more crimes, a position that also happened to align with the financial interests of his bail bond client.

The more pointed episode came in February 2022, when Gonzalez and Olibas attended a meeting convened by an El Paso Senate Bill Committee to discuss the county’s compliance with Senate Bill 6, the Damon Allen Act, a state law that had reworked bail procedures the year before. Meeting materials listed Gonzalez as a recommended committee member, identified as “Judge Mario Gonzalez representing Municipal Judges Horizon and San Elizario.” At the meeting, Gonzalez criticized the number of personal recognizance bonds issued by El Paso’s jail magistrates, and supported Olibas’s proposal that magistrates hold off on any bond decision for 48 hours to give bail bond companies a chance to reach defendants first, a delay that would function to route more defendants toward paid bonds. Penny Hamilton, the former presiding judge of the El Paso Jail Magistrate Court who also attended, told the Commission that Gonzalez used the weight of his judicial position to lend credibility to the bail bond industry’s position with the lay people in the room. A second attendee, Patricia Lopez, gave a similar account.

In his response to the Commission, Gonzalez said he regretted that his advocacy work had gotten mixed up with his position as a municipal judge, and said that going forward he would take steps to make sure it was never unclear which capacity he was acting in when representing bail bond clients. At his appearance before the Commission, he maintained that he had attended the 2022 meeting as an attorney, not as a judge.

The Discipline Ladder (Texas)

The State Commission on Judicial Conduct issues sanctions, in order of severity, as admonitions, warnings, reprimands, and censures, either privately (confidential) or publicly (on the record). A public admonition, the sanction here, is the least severe sanction the Commission can issue on the public record. Removal and involuntary suspension are a different track entirely, requiring a separate Review Tribunal or the Texas Supreme Court.

The Rules He Broke

How It Played in the Press

El Paso’s KTSM covered the admonition directly, drawing on the Commission’s public order, and the story was picked up further through wire syndication. The judicial-accountability site AbusiveDiscretion.com also covered it in detail shortly after it issued.

Where Is He Now?

Gonzalez remains the presiding judge of the Horizon City Municipal Court, and continues to serve as municipal judge for San Elizario and Clint as well. He also continues to practice law through his own firm in Horizon City.

Sources

PRIMARY SOURCE

• State Commission on Judicial Conduct, Public Admonition, In the Matter of the Hon. Mario Gonzalez, CJC No. 22-0998, issued August 14, 2025. scjc.texas.gov

NEWS COVERAGE

• KTSM: Horizon City judge publicly admonished for bail reform comments. ktsm.com
• AbusiveDiscretion.com: Texas Judge Mario Gonzalez Publicly Admonished Over Bail Reform Comments. abusivediscretion.com

REFERENCE

• State Commission on Judicial Conduct: Public Sanctions, Fiscal Year 2025. scjc.texas.gov
• Town of Horizon City: Municipal Court. horizoncity.org

This post summarizes public judicial-discipline records and news reporting for general informational purposes. It is not legal advice.