Human Rights Group Sides With Colorado Mom Over Lawsuit
DENVER (AP) - A human rights tribunal says justice was denied to Colorado woman who unsuccessfully tried to sue Castle Rock police for not enforcing a restraining order against her estranged husband, who killed their three daughters.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights says that Jessica Gonzales, who has remarried and uses the name Lenahan, should have been allowed to sue authorities after her ex-husband, Simon Gonzales, killed their children in 1999. Lenahan sought to sue Castle Rock for $30 million for not responding to her calls asking for her ex-husband to be located. The estranged husband killed the girls and later died in a shootout with police.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that Lenahan could not sue. The ACLU appealed to the human rights tribune, which has no legal authority.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
