[DV_listserv] Legal Update

[Domestic Violence issues]

CONTEMPT OF COURT-VIOLATION OF FAPA ORDER: Defendant, who was prohibited
from contacting his ex-wife under FAPA order, willfully violated the order by sending her
personal messages under the guise of a pro se pleading in a separate pending divorce case.


State v. Crombie, 267 Or App __, __ P3d __ (December 24, 2014) (Clackamas)
(AAG Michael Shin). Defendant was held in contempt for violating a restraining order issued
under the Family Abuse Protection Act (FAPA) that prohibited him from contacting his ex-wife.
The trial court (Judge pro tem Kenneth Stewart) found that he violated the restraining order by
sending his ex-wife a copy of an "Addendem [sic] to Response and Counterclaim," which he
filed in a separate pending divorce proceeding, because the document contained his personal
messages to his ex-wife. The trial court determined that although the document "seems to be a
pleading," it constituted prohibited contact because it contained his direct communications to his
ex-wife, including ending with: "Bye Baby. : ) I will ALWAYS love you! Thank you for every
second!." On appeal, defendant claimed that the trial court erred in denying his motion for
judgment of acquittal because the restraining order contained an exception for serving documents
"related to a court... case" and the addendum was a court filing that fit within the exception and,
additionally, there was insufficient evidence for a finding that he violated the restraining order
willfully.
Held: Affirmed (Ortega, P.J.). The trial court correctly denied defendant's motion for
judgment of acquittal. Defendant's interpretation of the exception in the restraining order for
serving court documents "would allow defendant to easily subvert the intentions of the order,
which are to prevent him from communicating with the victim." The addendum was directed at
his ex-wife, not the divorce court, and there is little doubt that had he expressed the content of
the addendum in a letter sent directly to his ex-wife that it would have violated the restraining
order. "Defendant may not accomplish the same aim by expressing those contents in a pleading,
including some statements addressed to the court, and filing it in the court proceeding."
http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/docs/A152462.pdf


*****CONFIDENTIALITY  NOTICE*****

This e-mail may contain information that is privileged, confidential, or otherwise exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the addressee or it appears from the context or otherwise that you have received this e-mail in error, please advise me immediately by reply e-mail, keep the contents confidential, and immediately delete the message and any attachments from your system. 

************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/dv_listserv/attachments/20150107/158e80cb/attachment.html>