Impact of a Restraining Order in New York City

The impact of a restraining order in New York City is that it makes it difficult for the defendant to live a stress-free life. Having a criminal charge pending over a person’s head makes it difficult to live a stress-free life. In terms of what they feel free to do, where they feel free to go, who they feel free to talk to is something that they constantly have to be worried about. A compassionate restraining order lawyer could devote the time and resources necessary to mitigate the impact that a restraining order may have on a person’s life.

Precautions a Person Must Take if There is a Restraining Order Against Them

The impact of a restraining order in New York City can be all-consuming. People who are the subjects of restraining orders often have to make sure that whatever they say is not construed as some sort of attempt to contact somebody on their behalf or to pass a message along. The individual has to be careful about where they go before they go anywhere. The person also has to think about whether it is somewhere this complainant might be expected to be and they have to constantly be scanning around to make sure that if they do see the complainant that they extricate themselves from the situation as quickly and as quietly possible.

What Happens to Those Who Violate Protective Orders?

If the defendant violates the terms of the order, they will be subject to the arrest process again, which is unpleasant. It is not just the fact that new charges are going to be levied, it is the fact that an entirely new case is instituted, which means from start to finish, all the unpleasantness of that first case is going to happen again.

It can take days’ worth of back and forth with the prosecutor to convince them that this was not an intentional communication and violation of the order of protection, but an accident and they immediately hung up as soon as they saw happened. These cases are taken very seriously, which is evidenced by the fact that a mistaken phone call can potentially get somebody thrown in jail. Having an attorney who can potentially get that order of protection dropped from a full order to limited is a lot of times very helpful. It takes a lot of that stress away that person is going to run into the person on the street and have to run away. There is a benefit that comes from having an experienced attorney.

There have been cases where defendants are very good about following their orders of protection, staying away, and doing what they are supposed, and they sit down on their cell phone, hit speed dial 1, which happens to be their significant other, and a phone is made.

Consulting a Restraining Order Attorney

There is no hearing directly about orders of protection. Generally, the order of protection is going to be issued at the arraignment. It is extremely important to have a skilled restraining order attorney at the arraignment who understands domestic violence and order of protection issues because the arraignment is where bail is determined. Having somebody who can effectively argue for bail rather than having an amount set that is tantamount to the agreement is extremely important.

Also, in subsequent appearances, if the defense attorney is able to have conversations with the prosecutor, a full order might be dropped to a limited order of consent. That will significantly help the defendant because, at that point, they can stop worrying about causing some sort of incidental contact. An empathetic attorney can understand the impact of a restraining order in New York City and could work to mitigate that impact.