Virginia Protective Order Violations

If a person has requested a protective order in Virginia and believes someone has violated that order, that person has two options. Sometimes the person will be arrested for violating the protective order if law enforcement has been informed of the violation. It is also possible to return to the court that issued that order and ask the court to find that person in contempt.

If you are facing repercussions of violating a protective order in Virginia, a Virginia protective order attorney can help you with your case and advise you on the most appropriate approach towards your desired outcome.

Abiding by Outlined Provisions

It is incredibly important to follow the provisions of a protective order because the consequences can be severe. Any time a person has been ordered by a court to stay away from someone else, it means that the court’s contempt powers are in play.

Repercussions of violating a protective order in Virginia can include the effect of a person’s bond if they are on bond for a criminal charge, which is happening at the same time. Further, a violation of a protective order is a separate criminal offense carrying a mandatory term of incarceration.

In most cases, if a person has contact with the victim after being ordered not to do so, a judge will revoke the person’s bond and will hold the person in jail until their criminal case is heard. If there is no criminal case happening, the judge still has the ability to imprison someone or find the person for a small or a significant amount of time repercussions of violating a protective order in Virginia. There is almost never a case without repercussions for violating a protective order in Virginia that includes active incarceration.

Judge Involvement

It is a crime to violate a civil protective order. If a person violates that order, they can be charged with a separate criminal offense. It gives the person a criminal record if convicted, which can include criminal penalties, such as active incarceration.

If a person commits a crime in the course of violating a protective order, it is a serious matter and under some circumstances is a separate felony offense. Most courts take extremely seriously the idea that a person who has been told to stay away must do so.

The concern is that the person is going to commit a crime. If the person does commit a crime, it is a scenario where some of the harshest punishments can be handed out, including active incarceration and in some cases very significant amounts of active incarceration.

Committing a Crime during a Protective Order

Anytime someone is guilty of an underlying offense, like a crime of violence, it is something that a court can have a lot of trouble with and impose severe penalties.

If a court had enough concern about a person doing something violent that entered a protective order in the first place, then it finds that its fears were justified because the person commits a crime notwithstanding being told to stay away. That is something that in almost every case is going to amplify the severity of the repercussions of violating a protective order in Virginia.

Creating a Defense

There are numerous kinds of evidence that can be used to challenge the government’s evidence that a protective order has been violated. In most cases, the evidence against a person is going to include witness testimony, phone logs, emails, or even texts.

Once it is known what the government is saying a person did to violate the order, attorneys can develop the strategy to challenge that. This could mean getting text records, phone records, or email records of their own to look at what evidence is available to challenge what is being alleged. In many cases, it is possible to refute what is being said by showing, for example, that the date and time that a person alleges a phone call was made that there is no call record.

Contacting an Attorney

If a judge finds that the government has proven that the individual accused of violating a protective order, they are almost certainly looking at active jail time. There is always a consequence to the conviction in a Virginia protection order violation case. Is critically important to contact an attorney as soon as the person knows that they have been charged or being investigated.