Many advocates for and victims of assault, harassment and abuse are encouraged by proposed Wyoming legislation that will allow judges to make protection orders permanent.
The proposed bill has so far met little opposition as it unanimously cleared its first hurdle in the Wyoming Joint Judiciary Committee’s meeting last week to be considered in the next legislative session.
The draft bill would give judges discretion to expand protection orders permanently for victims of sexual assault, stalking and domestic violence beyond the one to three years now permitted by law.
If passed, as they can be now, new protection orders could be terminated by the victim at any time.
The proposed law would also eliminate tolling, the process of pausing the clock on protection orders during incarceration. Tolling, though originally meant to be a benefit for victims, has proven more burdensome, as victim advocates and lawmakers have acknowledged.
Game-Changer
For one woman living in northeast Wyoming, who asked to remain anonymous out of protection for her grandchild, the proposed legislation would be a game-changer.
She and her husband were forced to take out a stalking order on their drug-addicted daughter two years ago after they assumed custody of her child.
They tried multiple times to get her help, but so far attempts at rehab have not worked.
In the interim, her drug use has escalated to the point she’s developed drug-induced schizophrenia. Her threats against them become more menacing and bizarre as she threatens to get even with them for “stealing” her child.
At one point, the incessant calls were so frequent, the grandparents were forced to turn off their phones at night just so they could sleep.
The couple lived with the threats for seven years until finally a friend suggested the mother apply for a protection order, which she hadn’t realized was an option.
After showing her victim advocate the years of threatening messages and texts, the couple was granted a stalking order for one year.
Even getting that was a trick, however, the woman told Cowboy State Daily, because of the burden of proof required to prove the harassment.
Within 24 hours of getting the stalking order, their daughter violated it by texting her father. She was arrested and went to jail for nearly a year.
Burden On Victims
This introduced a second layer of complication to apply tolling during their daughter’s incarceration. Tolling allows victims to extend protection orders for the length of time respondents are in jail.
The trouble was the mother didn’t know the length of her daughter’s sentence and was told she’d have to procure the records and reapply in court to have the order extended.
Because her daughter had been in Campbell County, the woman had to ask the Campbell County commissioners for permission to go to the jail to get the records for a small fee.
“It was a huge hassle,” she said. “As it is now, the system turns the victims back into the victim again.”
Her situation is much less extreme than others, she said, noting that her heart goes out to women who are in really abusive relationships and are forced to continually face their abusers to extend their protections.
Trouble With Tolling
This is the trouble with tolling and short-term protection orders, said Sandy Stevens, director of the North East Wyoming Advocacy Resource Center’s DVSA program.
Stevens has been working with victims of domestic violence for 25 years and said the lifetime protection orders have several important benefits.
Along with providing a sense of security and reducing the need to frequently traumatize victims by having to go back into court to face their offenders to get orders renewed, it also diminishes the power of abusers.
“It establishes a legal border that helps prevent abusers from contacting, or even approaching, the victims,” Stevens said, noting many abusers relish having that power over their victims.
“The abuser could really enjoy going back to court to torment them even more or use it as an excuse to stay in contact,” she said. “It’s a tactic to use against their partners.”
Leaving an abuser is a process, not an event, Stevens added. She compared it to one’s quitting a job on the spot with no plans in place and the lack of resources and fear of the unknowns, let alone costly legal expenses.
Making some protection orders permanent would help alleviate some of the stress victims face when escaping their abusers, Stevens said.
“Ensuring that all survivors have access to lifetime orders of protection would empower survivors and even law enforcement in preventing future abuse,” she said.
It would also provide clear legal grounds for law enforcement and the courts, she noted, thereby lifting the burden of both victims and the courts to continually renew the orders.
Cara Chambers, director of the Division of Victim Services at the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office, agrees with Stevens.
She called the proposed law “a game-changer” by extending permanent protection for victims.
Under the proposed law, a judge would consider the offender’s history and severity of violence and risk of harm to the victim, among other considerations, in deciding to make orders permanent.
Tolling would be grandfathered in for current protection orders upon the new law taking effect, but would not be applied to future orders, and would be dissolvable at the victim’s request.
Worth The Hassle
While the woman in northeastern Wyoming was able to get tolling applied to extend the protection order for the months her daughter was incarcerated, the stalking order expired in September.
She’s been unable to get it renewed because the court says she hasn’t met the burden of proof justifying the order because she can’t prove the harassing and threatening calls are coming from her daughter because she continually uses temporary cellphones with different numbers.
Now she believes her daughter is living in southern Wyoming and Colorado and the calls are not as frequent, though the fear of her returning to the area remains.
She, for one, is in favor or permanent protection orders and would definitely seek one should the law pass, she said, to give them peace of mind.
The woman worries about her grandchild being kidnapped or confronted by the mother or someone dangerous she might be with while on drugs, as well as her daughter potentially hurting other family members.
“We’re always looking over our shoulders,” she said. “We feel like prisoners in our own life.”
She also appreciates the victim’s right to terminate the order and hopes that one day, she’ll be able to do so with her daughter.
“The whole situation has been excruciating,” she said, calling it an impossible choice and lamenting that the family has done everything they can do to try to get their daughter help. “It’s really, really tough.”
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
