A 70-year-old woman filed a civil rights lawsuit Monday against the City of Moriarty and Torrance County after being arrested and detained for three days while peacefully protesting outside a gun show in February.
Jill Gatwood, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, alleges in the lawsuit that she was unlawfully arrested Feb. 22 while holding a handmade sign advocating for restrictions on assault-style weapons on a public sidewalk outside the Moriarty Civic Center.
According to court documents filed in the Seventh Judicial District Court, a Moriarty police officer and other officers demanded that Gatwood leave after the gun show organizer complained about her presence. When she refused, citing her constitutional right to protest, she was arrested on criminal trespass charges and held at the Torrance County Detention Facility for approximately 72 hours.
“I chose to protest at the gun show because I wanted to bring my message about gun violence to people who don’t usually hear it,” Gatwood said in a statement released by the ACLU. “I never imagined that exercising my constitutional right to free speech would land me in jail from Saturday through Tuesday.”
The lawsuit alleges that during her detention, Gatwood was subjected to a strip search, denied prescribed medication and kept in solitary confinement with only brief periods outside her cell. The complaint states she experienced withdrawal symptoms from the abrupt discontinuation of medication.
“The right to peaceful protest is foundational to our democracy, and what happened to Jill Gatwood should never happen to anyone,” said Lalita Moskowitz, ACLU of New Mexico litigation manager. “She was exercising her most basic constitutional rights on public property.”
A Moriarty municipal court judge dismissed the criminal trespass charge against Gatwood with prejudice within days of her release, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint, filed under the New Mexico Civil Rights Act, alleges violations of Gatwood’s rights under multiple sections of the New Mexico Constitution, including protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, freedom of speech and unlawful detention.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages, attorney fees and other relief to be determined by the court.
