Protective Orders

Parker County Violation of Protective Order Defense Attorney

Being served with a domestic violence protective order can be intimidating, filled with uncertainty. The effect of the order is to restrain your liberty. While the order itself is not criminal in nature, a violation of the order results in criminal charges, which, in turn, can lead to incarceration, probation, fines, and further restraint on your freedom. For those reasons, you must make sure that you take this seriously. If you do not, you could end up in jail and your life might be ruined.

Remember: Parker County prosecutors and law enforcement officers take domestic violence very seriously. They will fervently advocate for convictions and lengthy jail sentences after the trial. Having Attorney Jeff Hampton, who is an experienced, skilled, and successful Parker County Protective Order defense attorney, by your side is vital to protect your rights, avoid jail, and suffer the many collateral consequences violating a protective order can cause.

What is a Domestic Violence Protective Order?

A Texas domestic violence protective order is a court order, sometimes called an injunction or a restraining order that describes what behavior in which you can or cannot engage as it relates to a specific person in your life. Domestic violence protective orders restrain your freedom because the order will prohibit you from:

• Traveling within a specified distance of the petitioner,
• Going to specific locations where the protected person commonly visits, like work or school,
• Contacting the protected person and your children,
• Living in your home if the protected person continues to reside there,
• Having custody of your children while the order remains in effect,
• Attend counseling, and
• Possessing a firearm. Additionally, your license to carry a gun in Texas will be suspended in most cases.

A judge or magistrate will determine the length of a restraining order. Temporary restraining orders, known as ex parte orders, can last as long as 20 days. Typically a court issues a temporary restraining order when only one party is present. The parties then come back and have a full hearing. After a full hearing before a judge, the court can issue a protective order to last for any period of years but is most often two years.

Not everyone can apply for and obtain a domestic violence protective order against another person. Texas law limits those who may apply for a domestic violence protective order to:

• A family member or household member,
• Someone in a dating or intimate relationship with another,
• Spouse, or
• Parents of a child in common.

The applicant does not automatically receive a protective order. He or she must allege —truthfully— that he or she has been assaulted by the respondent to the protective order, or is in fear of imminent bodily harm, sexual assault, or serious bodily injury. Other behaviors like stalking or harassment may also qualify as threats.

Criminal Penalties for Violating a Protective Order

Criminal penalties for violating a domestic violence protective order in Parker County can be severe. A person convicted a violating any term of the order can be incarcerated for up to one year and fined up to $4,000.00. The Parker County prosecutors might elect to prosecute the case as a felony if the conduct that violated the order was violent in nature. In that instance, you could serve no less than two but no more than ten years in the Texas State Correctional Facility. A violation of an ex parte order is an offense punishable by up to six months in jail or a $500.00 fine.

Do Not Try to Represent Yourself

Representing yourself during a hearing to issue a protective order or any subsequent criminal proceeding is unwise. Instead, speak with a former state prosecutor who knows how to defend protective order cases after prosecuting them for so long. Parker County defense attorney Jeff Hampton was a state prosecutor for a long time before he opened his law practice. Attorney Hampton takes the lessons he learned as a prosecutor and turns them into an advantage for his clients that other attorneys simply cannot offer.

Call Parker County protective order defense attorney Jeff Hampton today at 817-877-5201 to schedule an appointment and begin defending your freedom immediately.