26 - Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748 (2005)

Summary

BACKGROUND

In its 2005 decision in Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales, the U.S. Supreme Court set back state law reforms aimed at protecting the victims of domestic violence. Based on the need to afford broad discretion to police officers, the Court held that Jessica Gonzales and her children had no federal constitutional right to the enforcement of a civil restraining order against her husband and their father. This holding came even when the order was granted pursuant to a Colorado statute and even when both the statute and the restraining order arguably mandated enforcement.

Sometime after midnight on June 23, 1999, Ms. Gonzales's daughters were shot and killed. Their bodies were found in the bed of their father's pick-up truck. The three girls – Rebecca, Katheryn, and Leslie – were aged ten, eight and seven. Although it was not conclusively determined whether the girls were shot and killed by their father before he opened fire on the Castle Rock Police Department or by the hail of return gunfire which ensued in response to his attack, the U.S. Supreme Court assumed that Mr. Gonzales had murdered his daughters.

The Gonzales family lived in Castle Rock, Colorado. Jessica and Simon Gonzales were separated and going through divorce proceedings. During their separation, Ms. Gonzales repeatedly called the police, saying that Mr. Gonzales had threatened and frightened the family. Based on these ongoing threats, Ms. Gonzales obtained a permanent restraining order. This mandated that Mr. Gonzales must remain at least 100 yards from Ms. Gonzales and the children and that he could only visit his daughters on alternate weekends. He was allowed to have dinner with the girls one night of each week, provided he arranged to do so in advance.

On the afternoon of June 22, 1999, Ms. Gonzales allowed her daughters to go outside and play near the house, asking that they check in every hour. When they had not checked in with her at the assigned hour and because of the ongoing problems with Mr. Gonzales, Ms. Gonzales immediately believed that her husband had taken the girls. Since Mr. Gonzales was not scheduled to have dinner with the girls that night, nor had he made arrangements to visit with them, Ms. Gonzales concluded that he had violated the permanent restraining order and that she needed police intervention.