What You Need to Know About Protective Orders in Virginia
The first thing you need to know about a protective order in Virginia is that this document is not just a meaningless formality which defendants are free to ignore. Protective orders give schools, churches, daycare centers, and other third parties official notice of a situation. Furthermore, protective orders are usually easier to enforce than assault, stalking, and other criminal offenses. Finally, many police officers take protective order violations more seriously. A protective order violation is a court order violation.
Furthermore, protective orders are not guaranteed. In the old days, civil judges often handed out protective orders like candy on Halloween. Today, civil respondents, who are normally assault and other family violence defendants in criminal court, have important legal rights in these matters. Therefore, an experienced Leesburg criminal defense lawyer often makes a big difference in protective order matters. Normally, an attorney minimizes, or even eliminates, the harsh direct and collateral consequences of a protective order.
Protective Order Defenses
Protective orders are available if a family or household member commits any act involving violence, force, or threat results in bodily injury or places one in reasonable fear of death, sexual assault, or bodily injury, and that act is committed against another family or household member.
Based on this definition, protective order applications stemming from domestic battery are difficult to defend, especially if emergency responders arrested the respondent. Non-contact family violence offenses, like stalking or false imprisonment, are different.
Usually, the judge requires an escalating pattern of conduct, such as progressively more menacing phone calls.
Extreme facts in a single incident might also suffice. If Bill threatens to kill Susan and Bill has a loaded gun in the house, his threat might reasonably place her in fear of death or bodily injury. If Bill threatens to go to a pawn shop, buy a gun, and kill Susan, his threat probably doesn’t meet that requirement.
Bear in mind that the standard is objective, not subjective. Bill’s pawn shop threat might legitimately scare Susan, but another person probably wouldn’t have the same reaction. Frequently, a Leesburg criminal defense lawyer relies on the testimony of other people whom Bill threatened and weren’t scared out of their minds.
Resolving Protective Order Matters
Most civil disputes, including most protective order matters, settle out of court. Common protective order resolutions include roll-ins and consent decrees.
Frequently, the individuals involved in protective order disputes are involved in parallel family court proceedings, like divorce proceedings. An attorney can insert protective language into a divorce or other final decree (a roll-in). This language serves the same purpose as a protective order, but no separate “protective order” appears on the respondent’s permanent record.
Consent decrees are similar to roll-in protective language. Consent decrees have the same provisions as protective orders, such as a keep-away order, a kick-out order that excludes a respondent from a shared residence, and a firearm ownership ban. However, once again, a consent decree doesn’t have the same collateral effects as a protective order.
These resolutions are usually only available in permanent protective order (PPO matters). A judge may issue an emergency protective order (EPO) based solely on the petitioner’s affidavit. However, as outlined above, judges only grant EPOs if petitioners make a prima facie case of reasonable fear or bodily injury.
Connect With a Diligent Loudoun County Lawyer
There’s a big difference between an arrest and a conviction in criminal law. For a confidential consultation with an experienced criminal defense attorney in Leesburg, contact Simms Showers, LLP, Attorneys at Law. Virtual, home, and jail visits are available.
Source:
vscc.virginia.gov/protective-orders-virginia-guide-victims-english.pdf
