United States v. Gonzalez

David was married to Belford, 2001-2006; they had four children. After an award of joint custody, David and his mother (Lenore) kidnapped the children and absconded to Central America. David was eventually returned to the U.S., convicted, and incarcerated. At his direction, his family engaged in a years-long conspiracy to harass Belford, including the publication of videos and other social media postings that accused Belford of criminal conduct; surveillance; and letter-writing campaigns. David’s parental rights and the familial rights of Lenore, his father (Thomas), and his sister (Amy) were terminated. The harassment continued. David filed a petition to reduce his back payments of child support in Delaware Family Court. Although he resided in Texas and could participate by phone, David, Lenore, and Thomas drove to Delaware, with an assault rifle, handguns, military-style knives, thousands of rounds of ammunition, restraints, body armor, binoculars, an electric shock device, gas cans, a shovel, photographs of Belford’s children and residence, and notes about Belford’s neighbors. Thomas and David entered the New Castle County Courthouse lobby, where Thomas shot and killed Belden and her friend, injured two police officers, and then shot himself in the head. David, Lenore, and Amy were convicted of combinations of: conspiracy to commit interstate stalking and cyberstalking, 18 U.S.C. 2261A(1) and 18 U.S.C. 371; interstate stalking; and interstate and cyberstalking resulting in death, with Thomas as an unindicted co-conspirator. The district court sentenced each to life imprisonment. The Third Circuit affirmed, rejecting challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence, the lack of a specific unanimity instruction, the constitutionality of the statutes under which they were convicted, and their sentences. View "United States v. Gonzalez" on Justia Law