Articles Posted in Domestic Violence

A South Florida woman’s pursuit of a permanent injunction for protection from domestic violence against her former partner of 13 years was not yet at its conclusion after the 3d District Court of Appeal threw out a trial court’s decision entering the injunction. The woman, at her permanent injunction hearing, brought up incidents of violence that she had not mentioned in her injunction petition. By allowing her to testify to these previously undisclosed incidents, the trial court denied the man his due process rights to receive fair notice of the charges against him. All was not lost for the woman, though, since the appeals court reinstated her temporary injunction for protection and awarded her a new hearing where she could re-introduce the improper evidence as long as she amended her petition first.

O.L. and Y.C. were a couple from 1997 to 2010. Their relationship produced three children. Unfortunately, as happens with some couples, the relationship ended…and ended badly. In September 2010, Y.C. went to court seeking a domestic violence protective injunction. The trial court issued a temporary injunction, which was extended several times until the court convened a final hearing in 2013. At that final hearing, Y.C. alleged several instances of domestic violence carried out by O.L.
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Today, more than ever, the online world offers a multitude of ways to follow the actions of other people. The ability to be profoundly involved in another person’s life, against their will, without actually being near them is why states like Florida have laws against cyberstalking. An estranged husband’s alleged online activity, even though it raised the possibility that he hacked into his wife’s computer and Facebook account, did not meet the law’s definition of cyberstalking because he did not post anything specifically directed at the wife, the 2d District Court of Appeal recently ruled.

The backdrop to this case involved an estranged married couple, Sammie and Maureen H. Although the pair was estranged, they remained Facebook friends. As a result of this connection, the wife could see the husband’s posts on the social media site, including two disquieting ones. One was a private Facebook message conversation the wife had with a third party, and the other was the lyrics to the song “Secret Lovers,” a 1985 pop hit by the R&B group Atlantic Starr. The wife had recently been listening to the Atlantic Starr song on her home computer so, in her view, the husband could only have know about her music playlist and her private Facebook conversations by hacking into her computer and virtually spying on her. She testified that a keystroke logging mechanism was found on her computer, but she had no proof that the husband did it.
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A woman who took her child and fled an allegedly abusive husband was unable to successfully move her divorce and child custody case to a court in her new home in South Florida. The 1st District Court of Appeal, while openly expressing sympathy for the woman’s difficult position, threw out an order transferring the case from Tallahassee to Miami-Dade County because, when the original divorce petition was filed, the couple had only lived in Tallahassee, making that location the only permissible place where the case could be heard.

The case regarded the difficult and allegedly violent breakup of the marriage of KM (husband) and TM (wife). The husband filed for divorce in September 2013 in Tallahassee, where the couple was living with their child. Shortly thereafter, a dispute reportedly erupted between the couple, and the husband allegedly punched the wife several times. The wife left Tallahassee and went to stay with her mother in Miami. The wife obtained a domestic violence injunction against the husband from a court in Miami-Dade County.
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A woman who was the victim of a sex crime as a minor was allowed to seek a protective injunction when the man who committed the crimes was released from prison, even though the terms of the man’s probation forbade contact with the victim, according to a recent 4th District Court of Appeal ruling. Regardless of the prohibitions contained in the man’s probation, Florida law gave the victim the right to request the protective injunction and required the trial court to hold a hearing on her request.

In 2003, B. was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years of probation for sexual battery on a person less than age 12. With B.’s release date this year drawing close, his victim, H., went to court to obtain an order of protection against him. The trial court dismissed both of H.’s protective injunction petitions without holding a hearing. The court reasoned that a protective injunction was unnecessary because of the terms of B.’s probation. If B. made contact with H., he would be in violation of his probation and would probably be returned to prison.
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A single outburst proved to be inadequate to support an order of protection granted to a woman by a Martin County court. Since the accused man had never harmed or threatened the woman before or after the single incident, and the woman was not afraid of the man, there was no evidence that she was in “imminent danger” of suffering harm, and the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that a protective order was not warranted.

W.’s appearance in Circuit Court in Martin County represented the aftermath of the somewhat acrimonious end of her three-month relationship with T. In May 2013, while visiting a pool hall, W. allegedly made a statement that angered the man, and he insisted that they leave. Once inside his car, T. allegedly continued yelling and cursing at the woman and refused to stop the car so that she could get out. At the man’s house, W. allegedly grabbed her phone and dialed 911, but the man grabbed her arm and pulled the phone away. The woman allegedly left and went across the street, where the neighbors called police. No arrests were made.

A week later, the pair met so that each could return items that had been in the other’s residence. W. was unaccompanied, but T. did not threaten or physically harm the woman. The woman later sought an order of protection. She admitted that the man had no history of violence before or after the pool hall incident, and she did not express that she feared T., but testified that she had friends in law enforcement who told her to seek the order because it was “better to be safe than sorry.”
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A Florida Congressman noted for his provocative rhetoric, particularly regarding his political opponents and women’s issues, scored a legal victory when his estranged wife chose to file a voluntary dismissal of her domestic violence injunction petition. Police officials previously announced that they would not pursue criminal charges against the Congressman for the incident, WESH-TV reported.

The dismissal likely brings to an end any potential legal troubles for Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando with regard to a recent dispute between the Congressman and his estranged wife. The Congressman and his wife of 24 years, Lolita Carson-Grayson, are separated and pursuing a divorce. The discord erupted when the Congressman returned home to pick up his mail, his medications and to visit the couple’s children. During the visit, the couple became embroiled in a verbal altercation. In her initial 911 call, the Congressman’s wife told a dispatcher that Grayson had not struck her but was threatening her.

The next day, she traveled to the emergency room at an Orlando-area hospital, claiming that Grayson pushed her against a door, bruising her. Grayson later countered his wife’s assertions in a statement to reporters. According to a Miami Herald report, the Congressman claimed that the encounter “simply isn’t the way she described it. She hit me and I retreated. That’s what happened.”
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Florida law provides people with various legal avenues to seek protection if they are victims of domestic harassment. Part of the key to obtaining an order of protection, though, is understanding the limitations of the law and what types of protective orders do, or do not, apply to you. One man’s attempt to seek protection from a jealous ex-girlfriend ultimately failed because, regardless of the woman’s conduct, the type of protective order the man sought did not apply to his situation.

One man ended his on-and-off relationship with his girlfriend in 2011 when he moved from Kentucky to Key West. The man began dating another woman and, by August 2012, the ex-girlfriend allegedly began harassing him. The ex-girlfriend sent packages of animal waste to his place of employment, faxed a letter to the girlfriend of the man’s brother threatening violence against the man and his new girlfriend and engaged in other threatening and hostile behaviors.

The man, representing himself in court, sought “protection against dating violence” against the ex-girlfriend, and the trial court entered an injunction. The 3rd District Court of Appeal reversed the ruling, however. The reason the injunction failed had nothing to do with the ex-girlfriend’s conduct. Regardless of the ex-girlfriend’s behavior, the man and the ex-girlfriend were not in a dating relationship and, as a result, the man could not seek protection from dating violence as defined by Section 784.046 of the Florida Statutes. That law limited the qualification for orders of protection against dating violence to situations where the victim either (1) was currently in a dating relationship with the harasser, or (2) the victim and the harasser had been in a dating relationship within the previous six months.
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An ex-husband’s behavior may have risen to the level of annoyance or general harassment, but not domestic violence, according to a Florida appeals court. The court ruled against the ex-wife’s injunction for protection because her evidence failed to prove that the husband’s past conduct amounted to an intentionally unwelcome touching or that the ex-husband’s ongoing conduct demonstrated a risk of imminent future violence.

In October 2012, a woman sought an injunction for protection from her ex-husband. The wife, who had filed for divorce four months earlier, asserted that the husband had once grabbed her arms and made unwanted sexual advances. According to the wife, this incident resulted in bruises on her arms. She also alleged that she felt threatened by the husband’s constant barrage of text messages that she continued to receive on a regular basis and by an encounter with the husband at a beach.

The trial court granted the injunction, but the 4th District Court of Appeal reversed that ruling and ordered the injunction vacated. The court explained that two possible bases exist under Florida law for issuing an injunction for protection: (1) proof of actual past domestic violence, or (2) a reasonable belief of impending future domestic violence.
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In the wake of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) tragic report detailing the extent domestic violence persists throughout the world, the Law Firm of Sandy T. Fox is dedicating this post to an overview of domestic violence solutions for those in need.The report released by the WHO this month was the first comprehensive worldwide survey of domestic violence. The rate of domestic violence in North America, although lower than the world average, is still about one in four. The report found one third of women have suffered domestic violence with a startling 40% of women killed across the world as a result of attacks by their intimate partner.

Florida Working to End Domestic Violence
A grant awarded to Florida State University researchers has been put to use to attempt to tackle domestic violence in the criminal justice community. This first-of-its-kind online toolkit known as the National Prevention Toolkit on Officer-Involved Domestic Violence and will first hit 10-states before going nationwide. The goals of the initiative are to educate criminal justice officers on communication dynamics and the consequences of domestic violence. The Law Firm of Sandy T. Fox is proud of the nationwide contributions Florida is making to combat this trend.

Leaders in Orange County are also currently revising new ways to tackle this national problem. The Domestic Violence Commission has come up with several new recommendations which may hint towards similar changes throughout the state. Some major recommendations are: preventing those accused of domestic violence from having a phone in jail as they often abuse the privilege to harass the victim, enforcement agencies should be required to alert the State Attorney’s Office in the cause of repeat violations within 24 hour periods, and victims should be added to a no-contact order lists which would allow law enforcement to more easily identify if the individual is in danger again.

Domestic Violence and Family Solutions
Since no-fault divorce has taken the place of more specific fault-based grounds in Florida, domestic violence importance in the divorce has been downgraded to non-existent. Previous acts or a history of domestic violence no longer factor into the divorce proceeding. However, these still do matter in other aspects of a divorce.

Equitable distribution, the settlement of the spouses separate property, is supposed to be fair to both parties and the court will have difficulty ignoring spouses who have been abused, physically or emotionally, or spouses who have suffered acts of adultery.

In instances of domestic abuse in homes with children, it is not only a good suggestion to seek help but a moral obligation. One solution the court may grant is a Protection from Abuse order which can lead to jail time if the offender violates the terms. These cool down periods are necessary to keep yourself and children safe while you consider the road ahead. Anyone within a family may file this order, including grandparents, spouses, ex-spouses, children or anyone intimately involved with the family. Different injunctions exist for those suffering from violence that do not qualify for . A Petition for Protection against Sexual Violence or Injunction for Protection against Dating Violence
Any acts of domestic abuse would favor the non-abusive parent heavily in determinations related to the child including custody and visitation rights.
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A 35-year-old St. Augustine woman in the midst of heated divorce proceedings was recently arrested after she allegedly spray painted graffiti on the Duval County Courthouse in downtown Jacksonville. According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the woman was caught painting letters, broken hearts, and angry messages to a family court judge on a walkway and several pillars attached to the newly constructed building. She is reportedly going through a messy divorce and custody battle. According to court records, her former husband has accused the woman of domestic abuse and asked for a restraining order against her.

The woman was charged with criminal mischief in excess of $1,000 and interrupting a business or utilities in connection with the courthouse vandalism. The woman also allegedly painted graffiti at the corporate headquarters of a family business that is owned at least in part by her former husband. She reportedly spray painted messages to her former spouse and her child in addition to painting other graffiti on the business.

In the State of Florida, domestic violence includes aggravated battery, assault, or stalking, kidnapping, false imprisonment, sexual assault or battery, and a variety of other criminal offenses. A victim of domestic abuse may seek a protection order against an alleged abuser. To obtain a restraining order against an abuser, a victim must provide the court with specific facts regarding why a restraining order is necessary. After a domestic violence victim requests a restraining order, a hearing is held to determine whether the alleged victim’s request should be granted.

In some cases, a protection order may be granted where there is a reasonable fear that domestic violence will occur. A temporary restraining order may be issued until a hearing can be held if the court believes a petitioner is in immediate danger. Temporary protection orders generally last for 15 days, but may be extended at the discretion of the court. A temporary or other restraining order requires an alleged abuser to stay away from his or her victim, the victim’s home, workplace, and other specified locations. A protection order may also award temporary custody of a couple’s minor children to an alleged domestic violence victim. If you were the victim of domestic violence, you should contact a skilled family law lawyer to discuss your rights in more detail.
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