Protective Orders in Maryland Assault Cases

In domestic violence cases, sometimes judges may order a protective order. The purpose of protective orders is to ensure the safety and security of all parties involved in domestic violence cases. If you want to know more about protective orders in Maryland assault cases, speak with an accomplished assault attorney that could advocate for you.

Criminal and Civil Assault Cases

Criminal and civil cases will not necessarily intersect but it is beneficial to have one lawyer handling both because it is often the same set of facts and the same problems that have to be addressed. Now, sometimes, it is possible that all that the complainant wants is a no-contact order and they just do not want to have any further telephone calls or in-person contact with the defendant.

They may be willing to drop their assault charges if the defendant consents to a protective order.  In protective orders in Maryland assault cases, it is the alleged victim who has the control over what they want to do. It is the complainant that can decide that they want to drop their protective order or they want to modify it. That is all within the alleged victim’s control. When someone is charged criminally, the victim essentially becomes a witness for the state, and so they are not in the driver seat, the prosecutor is. A complainant may be willing to drop the charges, but if the prosecutor wants to press the charges then the alleged victim’s desire is not necessarily taken into consideration.

Consequences of Being the Subject of a Protective Order

The consequences of protective orders in Maryland assault cases filed against the person are very long-term and are life-altering. If a protective order has been filed against the person, more than likely they have been told they cannot return to their home, which means they have to then find some alternate type of housing.

They cannot have contact with the complainant, which could very well be their girlfriend or their wife, and married couples need to be able to communicate about things like paying the bills or what to do regarding the children. A no-contact order is just very stressful. Protective orders can be put in place for a year and they also can be extended if the victim goes back into court and presents some evidence as to why they feel that their protective order should be extended beyond the year. Violations of protective orders actually do carry a criminal penalty.

Violation of Protective Orders

If the defendant is ordered to have no contact and then does so by calling the person or going to see them at their job, they are violating the protective order and that carries a criminal penalty of 90 days in jail. The civil part of domestic violence and having a protective order is very stressful and has a lot of negative consequences.

Now, at the same time, the person may also be dealing with having been convicted of an assault which carries its own separate consequences and it is possible that they could serve a jail sentence for that. It is also very likely that they will have some period of supervised probation, which is expensive and requires paying supervision fees and making sure that they are staying in contact with a probation officer. There are a lot of regulations that have to be followed on probation as well. A qualified assault attorney could help individuals avoid violating protective orders in Maryland assault cases.