Posted: 2/14/2005 7:47:00 PM EDT
| Quick question for those who know the law more than me. If an idividual, we'll call person A, gets a restraining order for person B, for whatever reason. If person B visits or contacts person A, they get in trouble with johnny lawman. What I'm curious about is what happens if Person A, the person who requested the restraining order, goes and vists or makes face to face contact with person B. Any legalities with that, besides being stupid. Thanks. |
In Texas restraining orders are not enforceable by the police. However, I remember reading a couple of years ago where a judge held a person who obtained a RO in contempt for contacting the restrained person. |
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I'm regularly bailing out people who got themselves arrested for domestic harassment and/or assault. In this state, a mandatory protection order is issued by the court. My defendants are advised of the P.O., and I then reiterate (while explaining I'm not an attorney & I don't give legal advice) that no contact means NO CONTACT...until the judge lifts the order. "Well, what if he/she contacts me first?" "Turn around and walk away" is my reply. All it takes is for the other party to think you even looked at 'em cross-eyed & they'll drop a dime on you. Then, you're arrested again for violation of P.O., bond is doubled (at least), sometimes more depending on circumstances and you get to spend more money with me and face a really pissed-off judge. |
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FWIW, IMHO restraining orders are one of the most abused things on the planet, as well as being useless. They provide no real protection for anyone and are CONSTANTLY being abused by angry spouses to make life difficult for their future Ex. If someone feels they're in any real danger, tell them to buy a .38 Special! |
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If person A will not leave them alone, person B should call the PD while retreating, and tell the PD that they are being harrassed, and make it clear they are trying to avoid contact in accordance with the order, before Person A get their panties in a bunch and claims that B violated the order first. If it's come to court orders, all dignity goes out the window. It's who called whom first. Tell B to C their A, and BREAK CONTACT. If A won't stop, call the popo, and document the event. |
| if this is just one of those oh man i was wondering posts then i dont know, but if this is a real situation, if anyone has a restraining order on anyone else it means those two should never again be near eachother regardless of anything else you can say!! period. |
| Absent an overriding statutory provision (and I am not aware of any in any state) a restraining order is limited to its terms. IOW, it can only be violated by doing what it expressly forbids. Unless the order says that Petitioner cannot go near Respondent, Petitioner does not court trouble by going where Respondent is. The language of ROs usually prohibits the Respondent from "coming within X feet of" Petitioner, his car/house/job/et c. So, if Respondent is at home or in a bar and Petitioner shows up, Respondent hasn't violated the injunction, even if he stays put. However, since Petitioners are almost always devious hysterical shitheads, it is safe to assume that Petitioner will claim that Respondent followed or lured him to the location. |
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In California, restraining orders are issued by a Judge on pettition from one party. Once the restraining order is put into effect, it covers both parties. Neither party is allowed to contact the other. So the pettitioner will also be in violation if he/she goes near the 'covered' person. We, as officers, are advised that we should not ordinarily arrest the pettitioner unless there are exstenuating circumstances. Scrubb |
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I went to class with this one girl. We talked almost everyday and I walked her to her next class almost everyday. She didn't seem to have a problem with this. Even TOLD me to come by her work and say hi. Ran into her by chance at the mall a few weeks later. The next day I went to her work to say hi. I did, but I kinda liked her so I wanted to ask her out. So I was going to wait until she came back out to talk to her again. Newcastle PD showed up and trespassed me. I though, "No, it wasn't her, I must have been making management uncomfortable by being there for so long just standing around." Long story short, I got a letter from their Director of LP telling me I scared her and her manager and that she didn't want to see me anymore because I was directing unwanted and uninvited attention to her at work and in public. Moral of the story: You're wrong, even when you're right. Why? Because you're a man, and she's a woman. All she has to do is scream rape and you're guilty. This applies how? Simple. All it takes is an accusation. Remember: You're wrong, even when you're right. If the person who filed the restraining order shows up it's best to run and not look back. |
Who enforces it then? I mean, who actually goes and arrests the person for violating the order? * This post contains personal opinion only and should not be construed as providing information in an official capacity* |
"Not enforceable by the police" means that it is not "on view" enforceable. Classically (in many jurisdictions, this is changed by statute for DV injunctions), the only way to enforce an injunction, which is a civil order, is to file a motion (by any of a number of names) with the court alleging violation of the injunction. If the court finds PC to believe there's been a violation, it issues an order to show cause, initiating contempt proceedings. The court can cause that order to be effectuated either by mere service or by arrest. Most places, a DV injunction is enforceable "on view" by an officer who klnows of the existence of the injunction and has PC to believe there's been a violation. This is possible because (1) in many places the arrest is authorized by statute, even if the ultimate enforcement will be civil and (2) in many places, violation of an injunction is a crime, over and above constituting contempt of court. |
Hard to believe that TX hasn't caught up with the times, then, if they don't allow an order to be on view enforceable,as you call it. |
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Had a friend/coworker (have known this guy since we were kids) going through a separation/ divorce. His wife/soon to be ex initiated the separation; (she had done this a few years before, except this time she didn't blind side him with the sheriff sitting in the driveway when he came home and letting him get his clothes and nothing else and then gtfo; which was mighty nice of her) so he moved out voluntarily (didn't want to leave his young sons though). He was doing the right thing during the separation, paying the house & car notes, the utility bills; or rather putting money into her account for these bills (by the way, she didn't work, and wasn't working, and wasn't looking for work either), seeing the boys as much as possible, going dirt bike riding, softball, etc. Well the alloted separation time finishes or had been for a couple extra months and he hasn't received any paperwork. He asks his lawyer about it, figures it's time to be able to get on with his life, and I guess he gets his lawyer to draw up the divorce papers and sends them to her. He gets a call and she's asking him what the divorce papers are for. ??? He says 'hey, I thought this is what you wanted.' Next day, he gets served with a restraining order; don't come within xxx yards of her or the boys because they were afraid of him. He was not to contact her in any way shape or form. He contacted his lawyer, and yep, that was the way it was. Except now he couldn't send her money for the bills directly because that would be 'contact'. She calls him up and asks 'how come your not sending money? We need money to pay the bills and for food'. He says "look, you put a restraining order on me, I can't even talk to you; your lawyer needs to talk to my lawyer if you have anything to say" and he hangs up. Anyway, it got nasty after that. He couldn't see his kids for at least 3 months because of her bs. Turned out that she had missed a few house and car notes even when he was voluntarily sending her money for all the bills. Anyway, point being that he couldn't even talk to her if she initiated the contact by phone or in person. He said that if he was in a store and she walked in; he had to leave it immediately without his purchase. Going to softball games to see his kids play was violating the restraining order also. |
Good advice-skeedaddle. A woman had a stay away order of protection. She and her on again off again boyfriend reunited and lived together for several months (without hitting each other with frying pans amazingly) he had chest pains one day and thought he was having a heart attack g/f calls ambulance, guy remembers order of protection and literally crawled out onto the lawn of the apartment complex. Cops hear address and name on call to ambulance, arrive with ambulance and arrest him at hospital. He ended up doing jail time. Obviously I have no clue how this stuff works in other states, but people are arrested all the time for being with someone who has an OOP against them even if both consent to the contact. |
Depends on your state laws I guess, but here in Indiana if either party violates the restraining order they can go to jail. |