Here’s the situation: you’ve just been convicted for domestic violence and you’re just waiting for your sentencing. The judge requires you to stay in jail, pay a fine, and possibly attend a therapy session; that’s expected. What you probably dread, however, is a protective order being enacted against you.
Domestic violence cases have penalties of varying degrees, similar to other cases. However, many defendants consider protective orders to be one of the most severe. What is it and why do many defendants in domestic violence cases dread it? Let’s look into it in more detail.
Describing Protective Orders
Simply put, a protective order is a court-issued order meant to protect a party against harassment or violence by another party. It can also indicate (implicitly or otherwise) that the offending party is also barred from communicating with the person seeking the protection order. It is extensively used in domestic violence cases thanks to the nature of its provisions.
Protective orders are not limited to domestic cases, however. The Las Vegas justice court can file protective orders for the following cases:
- Stalking incidents
- Harming minors
- sexual assault
- workplace harassment
The justice court can also issue extended protection orders if a previous temporary order has expired, and the minimum requirements have been met.
Who Issues Protective Orders?
It may surprise you that protective orders for domestic violence cases in Las Vegas do not come down from justice courts. Instead, the case goes to district courts, who will then decide whether or not an order should be issued. Protective orders are handled by a district court’s family division for evaluation.
District courts do not issue protective orders automatically. The plaintiff needs to submit a request form seeking the order to their local court. The court will then review the situation of the domestic violence case and see if it merits a protective order or not. Should circumstances require, the court can also issue an extended protection order later.
How it Affects a Defendant
Domestic violence cases often include a lot of collateral damage. A disagreement between only two individuals may expand to include the rest of the family. In the worst cases, it may even involve relatives who live further away from both parties.
Many defendants dread seeing a protection order because it can bar them from seeing their children or any other important relative who may otherwise be uninvolved in the case. Others find these orders disruptive to their personal or work life, especially if the plaintiff moves in the same circles of friends or coworkers. Overall, the restrictions and disruptions caused by the protection order can have a toll on the defendant’s emotional state and professional life, which bodes ill for the immediate future.
Protection orders can have an adverse effect for domestic violence defendants even before they receive their sentence. Contact a veteran Las Vegas domestic crimes defense lawyer to help you deal with such situations.