BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Friends blame the judicial system for failing to keep a suicidal father away, but lawyers and activists fault Maryland’s domestic violence law as stacked against children and abused wives.

“The threat of murder, how can you overlook that?” asked Dan Sander, a friend of Mark Castillo, who was charged with killing his three children.

“It is the responsibility of the courts to protect the children — and they failed.”

In January 2007, Montgomery Circuit Judge Joseph Dugan denied wife Amy Castillo’s request for a protective order, because psychological analyses by court-appointed therapists showed that Mark Castillo posed no threat to his children, despite his threat to kill his children, his bipolar and narcissistic personality disorders and suicide attempts.

The investigation of Mark Castillo, charged Monday with drowning his sons, Anthony, 6, and Austin, 4, and daughter Athena, 2, prevents judges from commenting, Dugan’s spokesman said.

Another Montgomery judge, Michael Mason, denied Amy Castillo’s request to halt her husband’s visitations.

But lawyers and activists said the law’s at fault, not judges.

Maryland requires a higher standard of evidence in custody battles and abuse hearings than most states, said Patrick Dragga, a family lawyer who supports lowering the standard to help victims.

“A protective order gives women a false sense of security,” said Prince George’s Circuit Judge Vincent Femia, who favors abolishing them.

Michaele Cohen, director of the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence, said protective orders save lives when combined with counseling and evaluations.

She said the state’s new lethality assessment, a questionnaire investigators use to assess victims’ risk of dying at the hands of an abuser, would have helped the Castillos.

That extra information could have aided police, who responded to three calls from Amy Castillo when her husband didn’t return the children.

Under law, police must give parents 48 hours to return children, said Lt. Paul Starks, Montgomery police spokesman.

Last fiscal year, Maryland saw 52 domestic-related deaths, compared with 60 this fiscal year, which ends in June.

Baltimore City District Judge Nathan Braverman ordered Castillo be held without bail Tuesday and undergo a mental evaluation.

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com