Domestic Violence Lawyer in Orange County

The orders

What is already in place before your first hearing

An emergency protective order is often obtained by officers at the scene and takes effect immediately. At arraignment the court will usually issue a criminal protective order under Penal Code 136.2, which can be a full no-contact order or a peaceful-contact order. Separately, the other person may seek a restraining order in family court under Family Code 6320, which is a civil proceeding with its own hearing.

These orders overlap and have different terms, and where they conflict the most restrictive generally controls in practice. Violating any of them is a separate misdemeanor under Penal Code 273.6 regardless of what happens to the underlying charge, and it is the single most common way people make their situation worse.

The rule while a case is pending is absolute: no contact of any kind, including through friends or relatives, including messages about children or collecting belongings. Everything goes through counsel, and arrangements for property and for custody exchanges are made formally.

Sources: Penal Code 136.2(a) — criminal protective orders; Penal Code 273.6(a) — violating a protective order is a misdemeanor; Family Code 6320 — the scope of a domestic violence restraining order.

The consequences

Firearms, immigration, and the 52-week programme

A domestic violence conviction carries consequences well beyond the sentence. Penal Code 1203.097 sets mandatory terms for any probation grant in a domestic violence case, including a minimum probation term of 36 months and successful completion of a batterer’s programme for a period of not less than one year, in consecutive weekly sessions of at least two hours. It is usually called the 52-week programme, though the statute sets the period as a year rather than a week count.

Firearms are the harshest. Penal Code 29805 imposes a ten-year state prohibition for specified misdemeanors, and federal law imposes a lifetime prohibition for a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence under 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(9), which applies regardless of what California law says and which a state dismissal does not cure. For anyone in law enforcement, the military, or private security, that is often the whole case.

For a non-citizen, a domestic violence conviction is a specific ground of deportability, and the exact offense pleaded to matters more than the sentence. Immigration advice on the specific proposed plea is essential before it is entered.

Sources: Penal Code 29805 — a ten-year firearm prohibition after specified misdemeanors; Penal Code 1203.097(a)(1), (a)(6) — a minimum 36-month probation term and a batterer’s programme of not less than one year, in weekly two-hour sessions; 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(9) — the federal lifetime firearm prohibition for a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

The office

How the office handles these cases

Patrick S. Aguirre has defended criminal cases in Long Beach and across the Los Angeles and Orange County courts for nearly three decades, with offices in Long Beach and Downey. Domestic violence cases are handled with the firearm and immigration consequences in view from the beginning, because the disposition that looks best in court is not always the one that leaves a client able to keep their job or remain in the country.

No result is promised here. The office speaks Spanish and the consultation is free.