Judges are afraid not
to issue restraining orders
and often refuse to judge.
In the words of most lawyers
they "give them out
like candy" because
they are "afraid
of the six o'clock news"
on the 1 in 300 men that
might actually be violent.
As a result men are immediately
stripped of all constitutional
rights in Massachusetts
and many other states
when a woman just says
the word "fear"
to a judge. The statues
allow "reasonable
fear" to be used
as the basis for an order
to issue but does NOT
define what reasonable
is. Is a past history
of violence necessary?
No! Must the defendant
have threatened the plaintiff?
NO! And the standard for
evaluation seems to the
the "she said"
standard - the lowest
legal standard in the
land where if she says
you did something you
are guilty. NO proof,
no evidence, no due process!
You need to fight every
restraining order issued
and appeal it. See below
for the list of other
pages with restraining
order related information.
The 209A provides that
either party can
request a hearing at any
time. Just because it
expires in a year does
not mean you have to wait
a year.
So wait a month or so,
as to not piss the Judge
too much and file to schedule
an evidentiary hearing per
your right. It will
take a while to schedule
it. Judges hate them because
they have so many RO's,
they would do nothing but
have RO hearings if they
administered TRUE justice
and DUE PROCESS. Thus they
do all they can to strong
arm parties to not have
one.
If every party
gets a fair hearing (and
not just motion hearing/discussion
standing in front of the
Judge) the SYSTEM will collapse
of its own weight.
The Judges know this and
fight to not have this happen
by ignoring your rights.
The mentality of the system
says they must issue under
certain circumstances and
in the end they believe
they will have to issue,
so they try to short circuit
DUE PROCESS. They
totally ignore the exposure
of facts which might demonstrate
there is NO reasonable fear.
In Virginia EVERY PARTY
gets an evidentiary hearing
although there may be a
EX PARTE initial order.
EVERY PARTY also gets an
attorney if he can afford
one. The result is that
there are very few orders
because there are not enough
Judges and courtrooms to
handle 50,000 a year. The
number issued here is in
the 1200 to 2000 range (or
whatever the number was
I published a while back
).
Demand DUE PROCESS and
the RO's will disappear
under their weight.
Only real, serious and deserving
RO's will be able to get
through the system as the
Judges see they use their
brains. All other RO applications
will appraised as "unreasonable"
and DENIED. . This
is certainly in line the
recent ruling providing
for "reasonable fear
must be shown".
I heartily encourage
every RO holder to demand
his rights for a hearing
and appeal if he doesn't
get one. And follow-up on
the appeal. The Judges
will hear from the
registrar office (grapevine
or whatever) that they (judges)
are creating a logistical
nightmare because every
RO is appealed. I know
Judge Moynihan used to keep
up to date on my filings
that way. He
was irked I appealed everything.
Of course I did, because
that protected my right
to appeal. If I did not
file an appeal notice, I
could not change my mind
later after the time limit.