Sex Crimes, Sex Offenders How to lift a Restraining Order due to Statutory Rape?

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resona

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A friend of mine was 15, and her boyfriend was 19, when her parents charged the boyfriend with statutory rape, and filed a restraining order against him. I believe he was given 5 years of probation, and not any jail time to my knowledge. Six years later, my friend is now 21, the guy 25, and they've recently gotten back together again. I personally did not know until recently that there was a restraining order put against him, but I along with my friend and her boyfriend assumed it had been expired after these 6 years. Apparantly, the boyfriend was pulled over for a traffic ticket a few weeks back, and the officer informed him that he had a restraining order against him still. My friend then went to the local court house a few days ago to find out the official status of that restraining order. When she went to the specialized department of restraining orders, and gave the clerk the information needed, the clerk said the restraining order was "pending in court", and when she asked the clerk what that meant, the clerk said it meant the restraining order was there "forever". The clerk was very rude, probably because of her own opinion to the charge, and didn't help her further than that. The restraining order was filed by her mother, as well. I understand parents can sign in their child's name if they're underage, but I'm not specifically sure if this was that case. My friend said her mother filed it, so I assumed she used her name and not my friend's name.

Even though my friend did not file the restraining order, it was filed for her behalf only. Being that she is legally an adult, and the restraining order is for her, does she have any power in lifting the restraining order? If she does or does not, what exactly has to be done to remove it?

And just to clarify, are restraining orders only effective in the county it is issued in? Or is this for the whole state/country?
 
The restraining order is effective everywhere, however it does not last forever.
They typically expire after 3 or 5 years. Either your friend or the boyfriend can petition the court to lift the restraining order if it is still in effect. They don't NEED an attorney to do this, but having one will make it all much easier, and probably won't cost a whole heck of a lot either.
 
Thank you so much for your reply. I figured a petition to the court would have to be done. Though, would it look suspicious for my friend to do the petition? I asked if she has the power to lift the restraining order, because since it was issued for her protection, she might have more power to lift it rather than her boyfriend. But then the court may think she's having contact with him again even with the restraining order (assuming with no evidence), and decline the petition. Would it just be better for him to do the petition? And what are the odds of the petition being accepted/granted? Would the court be more lenient because she is of legal age now, and because the boyfriend served his time? Sorry for the load of questions.
 
That might not be accurate.

Some RO's can be permanent, specially those involving minors.

Your friend really needs to check.
 
Without knowing the contents of the restraining order in question, but speaking generally about cases such as these, the order could be forever.

What also could be affecting most convicted child molesters is Florida's laws that try to protect children.


Convicted child molesters are tagged forever with the stain of their crimes. Florida is very tough on this breed of released felon. Their ability to live where they choose is inhibited. I suspect the effect orders such as these have are more related to Florida's new laws and not the original crime. Florida tracks these convicted felons closer than all others.

In many cases, their legal disabilities and restrictions are for life!!!

Look at these sites:


http://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/homepage.do;jsessionid=5bDdnce8py0AliP2ltoYkg__


http://www.megans-law.net/Florida-Megans-Law.asp
 
Your friend first needs to look at RO to see how it reads. He also needs to see what the conditions of his probation are and for how long.
 
Thank you all so much for your replies :D I'm very sorry I took a few days to respond, it's been a few busy days.

In response to Proserpina and jacksgal, I don't know the specific conditions of his restraining order, but I have asked and it is the next step to figuring out if the restraining order is indeed permanent. Although, I did read on a law site that even permanent restraining orders are never actually "permanent", it always expires at a specific time, but it can be renewed or extended depending on the circumstances. I'm obviously not sure if this circumstance would apply to that.

In response to army judge, the thing is this boyfriend was not charged with the "Unlawful Sexual Activity with a Minor" Statutory Rape, which involves a person age 24 or older having sex with a minor. Since he was 19 and not over 23, he was charged with "Lewd or Lascivious Acts", which involves a person of ANY age having sex with a child under 16 or over 12---meaning even a 14 year old may be charged for having sex with a 13 year old, and vice versa. This law just states that you are not legally allowed to have sex under the age of 16, no matter what age the other partner is. This is a Level 8 sexual offense, not the levels 1 - 3 that are labeled as child molesters. Also, people convicted of "Lewd or Lascivious Acts" are eligible for the "Romeo and Juliet Law", which allows them to petition the court to be taken off the sex offender registry. They are only eligible though if they were no more than 4 years older than the child at the time of the sexual encounter. Being that this boyfriend was exactly 4 years older than my friend at the time, he would be eligible to be taken off the sex offender registry, and no longer be considered a sex offender. If he can be taken off, and it's erased from his current record, the offense may not be as severe as to keep the restraining order against him---which is why I ask if the restraining order can be lifted in this circumstance.
 
You should probably link to the other sites. Ahem.
 
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A clever idea indeed---unfortunately though, this site doesn't allow me to post links until I reach 10 posts.

- This is as close as I can get: criminal.lawyers.com/Criminal-Law-Basics/Restraining-Orders.html

Just copy and paste it to your browser, it should take you straight to it. This is pertaining to the permanent restraining orders not really being "permanent". It's not THE site I found the information on, but this one has the same information.


Although I didn't mention I found the information in the third paragraph on a site, I'll provide ones that have it for others to be able to see for themselves;

- This is for "Lewd or Lascivious Acts": richardhornsby.com/crimes/sex/lewd-or-lascivious/battery.html

- And this is for "Romeo and Juliet Law": richardhornsby.com/crimes/sex/romeo-juliet-law.html


Hopes this helps. Ahem ;)
 
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