I post this story from time to time, to show you how the DV injunction system works (this actually happened to me):
This is a story of events that occurred to me about 5 years ago, events which resulted in my CWP being revoked. It took me six months, multiple hearings, an administrative appeal, and several thousand dollars in attorney fees to finally clear my name. I have posted this on a few other sites in the past, but it has been some time since I last mentioned it. Let this serve as a warning to others that this can happen to you. Sorry if this is a long story.
It began when my live in girlfriend announced that she wanted to see other people, and moved out. While we were living together, her car had broken down, and I had been letting her drive my second car while she was awaiting repairs. She had also been using a second cell phone on my Nextel account. (Trust me, I am not rambling- this is all important later)
When she moved out, I turned off the cell phone and I asked for my car back. She refused. I called the cops, they told me that since I had given her the keys, it was a civil matter. I didn't know where she moved to, so my car was gone. A month later, I saw the car parked at the mall, but there was a "club" on the steering wheel. I had it towed to my house.
The next day, there was a sheriff's deputy at my door with a domestic violence injunction that had been awarded at an ex parte hearing, ordering me to appear at yet another hearing a week later. The order said that I had 48 hours to turn my guns in to the Sheriff's office. The deputy, who was a friend of mine, warned me that if I turned in my guns I would probably not ever see them again. He said the Sheriff would tie them up in red tape, testing them ballistically to see if they matched other crimes, and other excuses, so that I would not get them back. An hour later, I sold them all to my brother in law.
At the hearing, she produced a statement that I had hit her while we were together. No proof, no witnesses, no police reports, no medical records, no marks on her, no corroborating evidence of any kind, just her say-so. It turns out that there is a "domestic violence victims advocates office" at the court house that coaches these women in what to say, and makes sure they get sympathetic judges by juggling the judicial calendar.
While in court, she began crying, and told the judge that I had taken away her phone, and that I had taken back my car, and left her with no way to get to work. She complained that it was unfair that I had two cars, and she had none.She also told the judge that she was afraid of me because I owned a lot of guns. This infuriated the judge, and he ordered me to turn my guns in to the police, revoked my CCW, and ordered me to provide her with a car and a phone. Then he came out of his seat and he said, "You have TWO cars? Not any more! Give her one! In fact, give her the car that you came here in today!" (There was no way in hell I was giving her my brand new truck- I stalled and told the judge that a friend had driven me to court. He told me to deliver a car to the Sheriff by 5 pm that day, or go to jail. He also said that it better be full of gas, and that I would still be required to maintain plates and insurance on the car for as long as the GF had it)
He also said that since my 2 jobs as a firefighter/paramedic could potentially bring me near her, that I was prohibited from going to work. One job was willing to work with me and temporarily reassigned me to administrative duties, the other one fired me the next day.
My attorney pointed out that we were never married, and the car was mine. The judge told him to sit down, be quiet, and be glad his client (me) wasn't going to jail. Luckily, I had been prewarned about the anti-gun attitude of the judge, and I had sold all of my guns to my brother in law earlier. Since this was not a final judgment, we could not appeal. The judge also said that my taking away "her" car and phone was a kind of violence, in that I was using my financial influence and the threat of firearms to control her.
For the next five months, we had numerous hearings, and I got to go back to work in my regular job. My second job was still gone. I had to endure her showing up everywhere I went and she would use the restraining order to force me to leave, sometimes while I was in the middle of dining in a restaurant. I started making sure I had witnesses wherever I was, so that she couldn't accuse me of anything. I hung out with friends and family, so that way it wouldn't be my word against hers.
It would go like this: I would be at a sports bar owned by my partner, and she would show up, and call the police. Since I was there first, they couldn't arrest me, but they would make me leave. She would go grocery shopping at the store across the street from my house, and tell the cops I was watching her from my window, and they would come over and hassle me. She called the cops and told them her doctor's office was in my mom's neighborhood, and they would even throw me out of my mom's house, and make me leave until she was finished at the doctor.
One night, she called me and told me that the whole thing would go away if I paid her $10,000 in cash, and let her keep the car. I refused. My attorney was finally able to trip the judge on a legal technicality, and got him recused from the case. With a new judge, we got the whole thing thrown out, and I got my car back. By the time I got it, it had been damaged by some sort of tool.
Another month, and some administrative appeals later, I managed to get my CWP back. I bought the guns from my brother in law, and my life returned to normal.
All of this was done on a statement filled out by her, with no witnesses, and no proof whatsoever. I discovered that when you get in front of these judges, you are at their mercy. They can ruin your life. One of the deputies told me that most of the domestic violence injunctions he serves are not really violence, but women trying to gain the upper hand in divorce proceedings, or out to get revenge.
)...but I don't hang around here (legal) much, but it caught my eye...and I am *somewhat* glad it did.
