Violating an Alexandria Protective Order

Violating a protective order in a domestic violence case in Alexandria can have serious repercussions and penalties. There are a lot of good reasons for a person to understand and abide by the provisions outlined in a protective order. First and foremost, violating the terms of a protective order is illegal and is, therefore, something for which a person can be arrested.

If a person is arrested for violating a protective order, it is almost a certainty that the person is going to stay in jail until that individual’s trial date. This is because judges have little patience for people who have been told by a judge, to not do something then they do it anyway. That is not a good situation for a person to be in. If you have been accused of violating a protective order in Alexandria, you should contact a domestic violence attorney who has experience in a variety of protective order cases.

Penalties For a Violation

If someone who issued the protective order suspects the other party of violation, they must first call the police. That is their only repercussion. They must notify the police, present to the police any evidence they might have, allow them to investigate, and let the system take its course.

If a person violates a protective order in Alexandria, it is a separate and distinct crime in the laws of Virginia. It is a Class 1 misdemeanor punished by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. In most circumstances, if a judge finds that the violation of the protective was intentional and done with a disregard for the wishes of the original petitioner for that protective order, barring extreme mitigation that person will go to jail.

Evidence

Necessary evidence to demonstrate that someone did not violate their protective order in Alexandria will vary depending on the nature of the allegation. If, for example, the petitioner is alleging that the individual violated the protective order by being outside their home at a certain period of time, and the individual was at work during that time when they were supposedly outside the other person’s home, evidence can prove that.

Perhaps, the individual was driving somewhere at the time and their Easy Pass was activated. There might be credit card transactions or phone calls that prove that the individual was doing something else at the time that he or she was alleged to have committed this violation.

It is difficult to say with specificity what kinds of evidence might be looked for, because every case is different. An individual should understand and be assured that lawyers are creative in trying to come up with the kinds of evidence that might be persuasive in court to help their clients discover how to get those pieces of evidence.

Importance of Abiding By a Protective Order

A person can start to build a lot of goodwill with the court, the prosecutor, and the victim or alleged victim of the original underlying assault if they abide by the terms of the protective order. This can be important, because by the time everyone goes to court for the trial of an underlying assault charge, if the accuser of the assault feels safer and more confident that an individual is going to be leaving them alone at the conclusion of the hearing and beyond, generally speaking, that creates a circumstance where the accuser of the underlying assault is much less motivated to get an individual convicted or jailed.

Not only is it important to abide by the provisions outlined in a protective order because it is illegal not to, it also helps an individual build goodwill with the people who could potentially be deciding that person’s fate.

Contact an Attorney Today

If an individual is convicted of intentionally violating a protective order in Alexandria, the vast majority of the time that person will go to jail upon conviction of that offense. However, there are a lot of times when people are charged with violating a protective order when the act was innocent, for example, perhaps the individual ran into the petitioner at a grocery store. There could be any number of different circumstances under which a person might unintentionally violate the terms of their protective order.

If the individual is in a position where they are not getting the benefit of the doubt from the petitioner or the court, that individual needs the help of a lawyer who can try to explain the person’s version of the events and what was going through the individual’s mind at the time that they were accused of violating the protective order.