[1] He served as acting Chief Justice of Belize from 1999 until Abdulai Conteh of Sierra Leone was formally appointed to that position the following year.
[4] One case over which Gonzalez presided in 2006, the murder trial of Kirk Gordon, would go on to become the last Belizean criminal case to be heard on appeal by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council; on 1 June 2010, Belize replaced the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice as its court of last resort.
The Constitution of Belize allows a judge to continue serving until age 75 if he has been formally reappointed, but Gonzalez had never undertaken this step.
The government passed legislation to strip the Senate of Belize of its power to confirm Gonzalez' reappointment, but it was challenged in court.
Attorney General Wilfred Elrington in August granted Gonzalez a one-year contract to continue to serve as a Supreme Court justice.