First-term District 8 Councilwoman Ivalis Meza Gonzalez this week hired a pair of attorneys known their past work defending council members and other high-profile individuals on drunk driving charges.
Gonzalez, who was arrested late Thursday on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, retained attorneys David Christian and Thom Nisbet, the attorneys’ law firm confirmed Wednesday to the Current.
Christian is known for defending both District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte and his predecessor, Clayton Perry, in their DWI cases. Christian and Nisbet also teamed up to defend KSAT reporter John Paul Barajas when he faced a 2023 DWI charge in which authorities accused him of driving with a blood alcohol content twice the legal limit, the Express-News reports.
Through their law firm, Christian and Nisbet declined comment on Gonzalez’s case.
Whyte’s case was pleaded down to obstruction of a highway, while Perry — who was accused of fleeing the scene of a head-on collision after a night of carousing — received a year’s probation. Barajas also got a year’s probation.
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones’ new communications director, former San Antonio broadcast reporter Gary Cooper, declined comment on Gonzalez’s charge.
Gonzalez was arrested while driving home from downtown’s members-only Centre Club. An officer from the San Antonio Police Department’s DWI task force wrote in an arrest affidavit that he saw Gonzalez’s vehicle “traveling at a slower speed” than others on the road and drifting between lanes.
The officer also reported that after Gonzalez pulled over, she slurred her words, smelled of alcohol and staggered during a field-sobriety test.
Gonzalez, who also faced a 210 DWI charge, is the third San Antonio City Council member in three years to be accused of drunk driving.
The councilwoman’s communications director, Laura Barberena, hasn’t responded to the Current’s request for comment.
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This article appears in Jul 23 – Aug 6, 2025.
