As the Montgomery County man accused of murdering his three children in a Baltimore hotel room was denied bail, returned to his jail cell and placed under suicide watch Tuesday, legal experts were examining how a judge decided to allow Mark Castillo continued access to the children even after alleged death threats.

For nearly two years, Castillo’s wife, Amy, fought to keep him away from their children, often citing his suicide attempts and threats that he would kill the children to spite her.

In court filings, she said she continued to have sex with him out of what she described in court documents as fear for her safety and that of her children.

And it’s that situation that Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Dugan faced when he decided in January 2007 not to sign an order that would have permanently kept Castillo away from his wife and children.

This story continues below
Advertisement

“Dugan was charged with assessing the credibility of both parents,” said Stuart Grozbean, a Rockville lawyer specializing in family law who has often served as a consultant to legislators. Grozbean said that keeping a father away from his children would require a high evidence threshold.

At least one friend of Mark Castillo’s, Dan Sander, believes Dugan failed the family.

“The threat of murder, how can you overlook that?” he said.

But it’s not that simple, Grozbean and other lawyers countered.

Unlike physical abuse, Amy Castillo’s claim that her husband had threatened the lives of their children left no clear evidence behind.

“It boiled down to he said/she said,” Marjorie DiLiura, a Montgomery County family lawyer, said.

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 retired 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 a victim’s risk of dying at the hands of an abuser, would have helped the Castillos.

fklopott@dcexaminer.com