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January 19, 2006
Unrestrained Restraining Orders
Posted by Dave Blount at January 19, 2006 1:25 PM
I never thought I would feel sympathy for a foolish and obnoxious moonbat like David Letterman, but this is too much. A judge recently granted a restraining order against him based on claims that he was using his TV broadcasts to inflict "mental cruelty" and "sleep deprivation" on a woman he had never met who lives on the other side of the country.
"If [applicants] make a proper pleading, then I grant it," explained District Judge Daniel Sanchez of Santa Fe.
Though Letterman's pricey lawyers have been able to kill the restraining order, the case emphasizes how easy it is to obtain them — and they can come in very useful when laying the groundwork for custody disputes. They can also lead to legal lunacy, as described by Capitol Hill Journal:
Restraining orders turn ordinary men into criminals by forbidding many routine behaviors. Men are being arrested for violating their orders by such acts as: returning their children's phone calls; going to their children's school or athletic events; sending their kids birthday cards; or accidentally running into them at the park or the mall.
Cathy Young, author of Ceasefire: Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve True Equality, documented one case where a father of three was arrested for getting out of his car to pet his kids' dogs when he picked them up for a visit. Later, he was fined $600 for returning a phone call from his son.
In another case, a divorced dad with no police record was convicted of a crime because he opened the door to the lobby of his ex-wife's apartment building when dropping his then-five-year-old son off after a visit. When he refused to go to batterers' treatment for this "crime," he was sent to prison for six months.
Restraining orders generally only limit the restrained person's contact with the protected person but not vice versa. As a result, husbands who have reconciled with their wives are being arrested during routine traffic stops for being in the same car with them. In one case, a father was arrested and jailed for three days for breaching a domestic violence order by taking his son to the hospital. The mother had called the father, said their son had been injured in a bike accident, and asked him to take the boy to the hospital. The conviction stays on his record and hurts his job prospects but he can't get it undone.
Some men have been arrested and jailed after being tricked into violating their restraining orders. In one Seattle case, a man was jailed for three months after returning phone calls from his ex-wife, who showed the police the phone screen with the man's number on it. The man explained that when he received the messages he worried that something might have happened to his kids. He asks "what kind of parent would I be if I didn't return those calls?"
Restraining orders have a particularly devastating impact upon law enforcement and military personnel. Under the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, individuals, including police officers and armed forces personnel, are prohibited from possessing a firearm if they are subject to a restraining order issued at the behest of a spouse or an intimate partner. The 1996 Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban expanded this prohibition to bar officers and service personnel from carrying weapons as part of their jobs. As a result, many police officers who are hit with restraining orders lose their careers.
Too bad a course in common sense doesn't seem to be part of the curriculum at most law schools.
Hat tip: Wiggins.
