Violating a protective order is a California intimate partner abuse crime that applies to intimate partners. Intimate partners, within the GLBT community are partners who are or were living together, who are or were dating, who have children together and who are or were civilly united. When an individual is convicted of this charge, he or she generally faces a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a maximum $1,000 fine. Aggravating factors or prior convictions will more than likely enhance that sentence. Regardless of whether those additional facts exist or not, if the defendant is also placed on probation, he or she faces a number of additional conditions that he or she must complete.

Probation will be imposed for a minimum of 3 years and, depending on the circumstances that surrounded the alleged incident, may be formal or informal. Because a protective order violation case is usually charged as a misdemeanor, the defendant’s probation is likely to be informal, which means it will be more loosely supervised than if the probation was formal and the defendant had to report directly to a probation officer. During the probation period, the defendant is instructed not to violate any new laws or he or she will be subject to a probation violation, which will likely result in more severe punishment.

Probation in a domestic abuse case, including violating a protective order, has certain procedural conditions that are imposed immediately upon conviction. The first is that a more restrictive protective order will be issued against the defendant to prevent any further abuse towards his or her intimate partner. It should be noted that the alleged victim will receive a copy of the new order and will be told about the outcome of the case. The second condition that is immediately imposed is that the defendant must go through the booking process if he or she wasn’t booked at the time of his or her arrest. Booking involves being entered into a criminal database, fingerprinted and photographed so that the individual has a record to track his or her criminal history.

Probation also includes other requirements, some designed to punish and others designed to hopefully rehabilitate. One of the punitive requirements is that the defendant pays at least $200 to a state domestic violence fund. In addition to that fine, but possibly in lieu of any fine imposed with the actual sentence, the defendant may also be required to pay up to $5,000 to a domestic violence shelter or may be required to reimburse his or her intimate partner for any reasonable expenses that he or she incurred as a direct result of the defendant’s violation. As far as the rehabilitative conditions go, the defendant will be required to attend batterer’s classes and to participate in a community service program. In addition, he or she may be ordered to attend drug, alcohol or any other type of counseling services that the court determines are appropriate, depending on the facts that were revealed during the defendant’s trial.

Before the court imposes any fines, it will consider the defendant’s financial status and his or her ability to pay. With respect to the other conditions, the court may modify, extend or revoke probation, depending on the defendant’s willingness, diligence and overall attitude in following through with his or her conditions. The trusted, LGBT supportive attorneys at the Kavinoky Law Firm sympathize with their clients and do their best to help each individual successfully complete his or her probationary sentence. With law offices in Los Angeles and throughout California, they are familiar with statewide resources that are available to members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community and will try to make sure that such clients receives classes and/or counseling services that are sensitive to their needs. For legal advice about a protective order violation, contact them today for a free consultation.