Tacoma Attorneys for Violation of Protection Orders Charges

Washington protection orders can be put in place for a variety of reasons, including domestic violence. A protection order may order you not to threaten someone, order you not to go into the residence of someone against whom you perpetrated domestic violence, give your co-parent temporary custody of your kids, order you to leave a shared residence, schedule visitation with minors, or order you to go to counseling. A protection order is usually for a term of 1-5 years, with an option for the victim to renew if they continue to feel threatened. If you are charged with a violation of a protection order in Washington, the consequences can be severe. At Smith & White, our Tacoma domestic violence lawyers can explore your case and any defenses that may be available.

Protection orders can include many different provisions. They may require no contact or peaceful contact. They can include a stay-away or move-out provision. They may require you to surrender any guns that you possess and stop you from buying firearms. They can also affect your ability to see your children, current romantic partners, pets, and others who may not be direct victims of domestic violence.

Protection Orders in Washington State

A domestic violence protection order is issued to protect the alleged victim from the threat of violence or controlling behavior. There are various types of protection orders for different situations, such as a family law restraining order for parties in a divorce proceeding and special protections for victims of sexual abuse or child abuse.

Two of the most common – and most serious – types of orders in a domestic violence situation are the Domestic Violence No-Contact Criminal Order and the Extreme Risk Protection Order.

• A no-contact order makes it illegal to contact, threaten or intimidate the alleged victim in any way. The defendant may also be ordered to stay away from their residence or other locations such as the victim’s workplace.

• An extreme risk protection order may be invoked when domestic violence involves use of a weapon. These are orders obtained by family or household members to stop someone who is at high risk of harming them from having access to firearms if they can show that the person presents a substantial danger. The police can also get this type of court order.

Violations Of Protection Orders

You can be subject to mandatory arrest for a violation of a protection order if you violate a restraint stating that you cannot cause or threaten harm or if you violate an order restraining you from going into the residence, school, workplace, or daycare of children or other areas that you have been ordered to vacate or from which you have been ordered to stay away. You can face Class C felony charges and contempt of court charges for these violations. An arrest is also mandatory for domestic violence when an officer has probable cause to believe that an assault has occurred in the prior four hours. This is true even when there has been no protection order in place.

It is important to realize that you can be arrested even if the victim invited or asked you to violate the prohibitions included in the order. The order is from the court, rather than the victim, and the court will adjudicate the violation. You are responsible for avoiding or refraining from violations. The victim needs to get a court order modifying or terminating a protection order if he or she wishes for it to be modified or no longer in place.

Gross Misdemeanors

Under RCW 26.50.110, violations of certain provisions of a protection order are gross misdemeanors. These provisions include provisions that prohibit acts or threats of violence against a protected party, provisions that exclude someone from a school, workplace, residence, or daycare, provisions stopping someone from knowingly coming within a particular distance of a location, a provision prohibiting interference with a protected party’s efforts to remove a pet kept by the petitioner or the subject of the order, and a provision of a foreign protection order explicitly stating that a violation would be a crime.

If you are convicted, the court can require you to be electronically monitored. The court will identify the service provider for the monitoring and determine the terms of monitoring. It may require you to pay the costs of monitoring, although it will consider your ability to pay. It will impose a fine of $15, along with other penalties and fines, if you violated a domestic violence protection order. The money from the fine will be sent monthly to be deposited into a domestic violence prevention account.

You can be arrested without a warrant and put in custody when a peace officer has probable cause to think that you violated an order. The prosecuting attorney will need to show that there was a valid order in place, you were given valid notice, and you made the contact that was prohibited, whether the contact was direct or indirect.

A violation of a no contact order is usually charged as a gross misdemeanor. This means that you can be sentenced to up to one year in jail and fined up to $5,000. You can be charged with a class C felony if it happened through an act of reckless endangerment or assault, or if you have two or more prior convictions for similar violations, in which case you can be punished with up to five years of imprisonment and up to $10,000 in fines.

Challenging a Domestic Violence Protection Order

No-contact orders and protection orders are typically granted ex parte by a judge. These are temporary orders issued on short notice or emergency basis on the word of the alleged victim and/or at the recommendation of law enforcement personnel. The subject of a domestic violence protection order does not get any input into temporary orders, or any notice before they are served with the court order.

However, there will be an opportunity to oppose a permanent protection order or modify the terms. It is critical to assert this right, as protection orders are typically issued for one to five years, with an option for the victim to renew if they continue to feel threatened. The court will set a hearing, usually within 10 days after the date of the temporary order, to hear arguments for and against continuing the no-contact order or protection order.

At Smith & White, we know that claims of domestic violence are often exaggerated or fabricated, and that protection orders based on false allegations can be weaponized by the alleged victim to get the defendant in more trouble. Our attorneys have succeeded in terminating unfounded domestic violence protection orders, sparing clients from the oppressive restrictions. We have also convinced judges to limit the parameters of protection orders where the threat of violence is overstated or the order would cause undue hardship for our clients. The evidence presented at a protection order hearing and the outcome can also factor into the criminal domestic assault proceedings and related family court proceedings. We defend our client against the full ramifications.

Protection Orders And Firearms

If you are subject to a protective order that restrains you from stalking, threatening, or harassing an intimate partner or their child, you are also not allowed to possess a gun in Washington. The protective order must have been issued after a hearing for which notice was given, and you must represent a credible threat to your intimate partner or their child. The protective order can be a sexual assault protection order, a domestic violence protection order, a restraining order in a situation in which parental rights and child support were adjudicated, an anti-stalking protection order, an anti-harassment protection order, or a no-contact order for this law to apply. Intimate partners in Washington are spouses, former spouses, domestic partners, co-parents, or current or former dating partners with whom you have lived. This law also requires the court to prohibit you from buying or possessing firearms or a concealed carry license. You are supposed to surrender your firearms or licenses and file a proof that you surrendered them with the court.

Retain a Tacoma Attorney Experienced in Protection Orders

If you are charged with a violation of a protection order, you should retain a skillful criminal defense lawyer. At Smith & White, we defend people in the Tacoma area and elsewhere in Pierce, King, Kitsap, and Thurston counties. Contact us at 253-363-8662 or through our online form.