MAN ARRESTED FOR VIOLATING ORDER OF PROTECTION BY MARRYING EX-WIFE

In my practice, I often represent men who whose wives or girlfriends have orders of protection against them or are seeking to obtain one in Court. One of the more interesting aspects of this area of practice is explaining to my clients how orders or protection are used or abused, and how they are enforced.

I typically tell my clients that when it comes to orders of protection the police have a mandatory arrest policy: if the person who has an order of protection call the police and tells them you violated the order, the police will arrest you first and ask questions later. It’s that simple. There is no discussion, no debate, and no appeal. This policy was created and authorized by elected officials and whether you, the defendant, are guilty or innocent is at the very bottom of their list of concerns. When you get back to Court, you will be charged with either a class A misdemeanor or a class E felony, depending on how the prosecutor decides to charge the case.

 

Now, I have a new way of making my point to my clients. I came across this story today. A man and his ex-wife decided to remarry, but it turns out she had an order of protection against him from a prior dispute and it was never vacated. At the wedding, the groom got into an argument with a guest, and the police were called. When the police arrived, they discovered that the bride had an order of protection against the groom, and he was arrested and charged with criminal contempt for violating the order. He was charged with felony contempt has held without bail.

 

This unfortunate incident just goes to show how strictly police enforce orders of protection and how careful clients need to be when faced with a petition for an order of protection or an actual order.

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Comments (6) Read through and enter the discussion with the form at the end
darlene - October 28, 2008 10:36 AM

if i have an order of protection which cps gave my wx husband to stay 500 feet away from the childrewn, and an order that i make sure he stays away from them,how far is that exactly from my front door, (how many houses away, the houses are pretty close/ and if i didnt know he was out there cause im in a basement a[artment, who would get in troulbe and would he get in trouble ifhe wre 2 houses awau?

steve - November 16, 2008 8:59 AM

if i have an order of protection, and i dont want her to be able to accuse me of anything else even when i prove this false can i go to our shared home when they are out of town to get my stuff. now i dont go to court for another week but i dont want to be in a position to be accused of anything else whether im on an order of prot or not thank you steve

hang kwok - November 23, 2008 12:52 PM

If the wife obtained her order of protection by fraud
and put me in jail what can I do ?

justin - October 20, 2009 8:59 PM

my ex has an order of protection. i wanted to know if i wrote about my situation on my profile page and she read it and didnt like what she read, is that a violation? i go to court on the 28th of october 09. please get back to me asap. thank you

dorothy - February 17, 2010 9:25 PM

can i get in truble if i contac a person that i have order of protection nyxc

john ellis - July 26, 2010 2:20 PM

This is an excellent article about how strict police are enforcing "orders of protection".

I work with a private investigation firm in San Diego and we now have a blog that includes articles of interest about family security issues.

Could we include this article and give full reference to your law firm, your web site?

John Ellis
Griffin Detective Agency

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