My own experience
Back when I got out of high school my girlfriend at the time was a real party girl, and I was a big party guy. After I started to grow out of the kid stuff, we broke up and she slammed me with a "protective order" (restraining order). A simple argument that involved yelling and absolutly no physical contact. No threats, people yell, thats life!
Her word against mine, there was no argument and there was no contest or even a chance for me to tell my side of the story.
I missed work, I was charged 700 dollars of court fees and my firearms rights were taken away until the order wore out. (two years)
Ruined my life in the sense that I couldn't hunt, go camping without the safety of a gun, go to the range by myself, BUY guns period, and WORST of all I missed my CHL when I turned 21.
P.S. Directly two weeks after she payed a visit to my house by trashing my new truck and mother's car with a brick and keying in offensive words in my tailgate. Another couple months she was arrested for beating up her boyfriend. (I found out since he went to highschool with me) Then she totaled his truck in DWI incident. THEN finally she for some reason called the cops on him. THATS JUSTICE HUH?
Yet in the years past I've yet to experience any trouble with the police, not even moving violations and yet HER word against mine really took my freedom away from me and made me lose faith in the justice system. I'm just glad to be through it all. But goes to show that there can be very unjust reasons for simple men to lose their rights. I'm not a badguy and never have been.
For a protctive order to be issued against a defendant, the defendant has to atend the hearing and have the oppurtunity to tell his side of the story. The only exception is during emergencies, and only then for a temporary basis (less than a week until the hearing can be scheduled). If you had a protective order issued against you without the right to tell your side of the story then you need to consult an attorney.
Good luck.
-David
