FALSE STALKING PETITIONS IN EUGENE

The criminal justice system of Oregon is a very fair and wise system of law. In order to protect its citizens from stalkers and assault, Oregon stalking laws are very strict. They are designed in such a way that the person who feels that they are in danger can take immediate action against the person stalking them.  

However, a sad thing about even the most well-intended laws is that there are people who will always misuse them. Highly esteemed lawyers in Eugene estimate that most of the stalking lawsuits in Eugene are frivolous. Most of the stalking lawsuits are aimed at getting an advantage in a child custody case.  

Some are even cases of vengeful behavior on the part of an estranged spouse. Here is the damage that a fake stalking petition can cause to you in Oregon unless you elicit the services of a top Eugene criminal defense attorney. A few of them have been explained in detail below so you fully understand the gravity of the situation.

Loss Of Child Custody

An unfair restraining order in Oregon can result in you losing the custody rights of your child if you are divorcing your spouse. Many vengeful men and women take unfair advantage of Oregon stalking laws so that they can have some sort of revenge against you. Engage the best Eugene criminal defense attorney to ensure that this kind of thing does not happen to you.

Indelible Mark On Your Background

Even a mark in your background sheet which reveals that you were issued a restraining order in Oregon can have a detrimental effect on your life. You can lose job prospects and you can also suffer economic repercussions. You may be denied loans and you may also find your freedom of movement reduced.  

You will find that you are denied permission to leave the state or be in certain areas if you have been served an Oregon restraining order. That is why you must engage the services of an experienced Eugene criminal defense attorney to ensure that this does not happen to you.

Now that you know why you must engage a good defense attorney for stalking cases, you can make an educated choice on your own.

Stalking And Stalking Orders In Oregon

Stalking is illegal in Oregon regardless of the motives behind it. Oregon stalking laws specify that it is criminal to follow around another person, make them feel unsafe, and repeatedly contacting them. These are categorized as forms of harassment.

The crime, which is dependent on a visible pattern of ill-intended behavior is a Class A misdemeanor. Class A misdemeanors include other crimes such as shoplifting, reckless assault, and credit card fraud. If the stalker was previously convicted for stalking or violating a stalking protective order, it escalates to a Class C felony which comes with more serious consequences. Fines for Class A misdemeanor go up to $6,250 and variant (but up to $125,000) for Class C felony which has a maximum jail term of five years.  

    

Stalking, according to Oregon law, is knowingly intimidating or frightening a person or a member of that person's family. It is categorized as unsafe behavior if it occurs out of repeated actions. Stalkers usually contact victims to make them feel anxious and to fear for their safety. The accused should have the intention of harming someone, threatening someone, or intimidating someone.  

Eugene criminal defense attorneys also find that stalking can be accompanied by other felonies as well including trespassing, breaking and entering, and intimidation. Eugene criminal defense attorney can help acquire a restraining order in Oregon. In cases where offenders breach the terms in the stalking protection order or a restraining order in Oregon, the attorneys might push for a sentencing.

Oregon stalking laws can impose a stalking restraining order in Oregon in addition to hefty fines and possible jail time. The order establishes that the victim must remain a certain distance away from the victim for an amount of time that the judge decides.

To acquire such an order, the stalker should have contacted the accuser or family repeatedly to upset. There must be determination that the accuser is in a dangerous situation and that the accused caused the person to worry and fear for either their own safety or their family member’s safety.

No cost is involved for making a complaint, filing, serving the offender or getting a court hearing on the order.

Role Of Lawyers In Case Of Stalking Orders

Stalking is quite a well-known term which has created different kinds of misconceptions related to what actually the crime is about. In most of the cases, the crime involves the following someone. However, there are some more instances when this crime can take place. The federal law related to stalking does not really exist but most of the states follow their own criminal law in this regard. Here are some of the stalking elements which get considered criminal in most of the states: 

• Any type of intentional harassment in the form of vandalism, repeated messages or other forms of unwanted behavior
• The reasonable or actual victim fears the stalker owing to the type of behavior he or she carries on
• Credible threats that come against the safety of the victim and his or her family members

Stalking Orders In Oregon: 

This is quite a serious matter. Violation of stalking orders gets considered as a crime and is thus punishable under law. Unlike the restraining order in Oregon, the order of stalking does not have any natural expiry date. It continues to remain permanent unless proper actions are taken for removal. 

How Can A Lawyer Help You With Stalking Order? 

Knowledgeable lawyers conversant with the Oregon stalking laws can successfully handle both defending and prosecuting the clients against the stalking orders of the court. The key to defending or proving the staling order involves the methodical, detailed and proper application of the case law and the statute of Oregon. The attorney reviews the case thoroughly and then organizes all the information related to it carefully. 

There are several defenses available to the accusations trapped in stalking orders. Some of them are: 

• If the accused is getting engaged in protected activity, then the stalking charges do not apply to him or her. Cases like labor picketing and peacefully assembling are exempt from stalking orders. 
• There is no evidence to prove the credible threat that the victim has suffered from the defendant. 
• The victim intentionally or mistakenly identifies the incorrect person as a stalker. 

So, it is important to seek legal advice from an eminent attorney when you are dealing with stalking orders. Sometimes, people get unnecessarily trapped in these cases when the role of a Eugene criminal defense attorney is ideal to bring them out of the mess. 

Stalking Laws And Its Challenges

The term stalking is commonly used to refer to the act of establishing repeated unwanted unhealthy contact with someone to the level of making them feel potentially threatened. The Stalking Statutes of Oregon allows a person facing the issue to file a case with the civil court and also makes the act of stalking a serious crime.

One can face stalking from a complete stranger but generally, it is the outcome of some bitter past relationship. However, it is tough to generalize the reason behind stalking, as they are very unpredictable. Any kind of stalking should be addressed and dealt with in the budding stage. Stalking behaviors are broadly related to harassment and intimidation that can be further categorized as:

• Repeated attempts to establish any kind of forced contacts with petitioner
• The regular following of petitioner’s actions and deeds
• Following or physically being present within the petitioner’s vicinity 
• Damaging a petitioner’s property
• Threatening harm to the concerned person or anyone from the immediate family
• Accessing public social profile of the concerned person 

However, it has been seen in many cases that there are certain challenges associated with stalking laws in general. Similarly, Oregon stalking laws are no exception and face the same challenges. There remains an ambiguity regarding the legitimacy of a stalking case registered against an individual. 

Some Of The Challenges Are:-

As has been identified by Oregon attorneys while dealing with stalking orders that the laws have been highly manipulated for personal grievance and advantages.

It has been seen that the reason behind a false stalking order can vary from the desperate need to gain child custody to simple neighbor disputes or relationship breakups.

Stalking order, if not genuine, can cause grave damage to the overall image and goodwill of the person against whom the order is filed.

Separation from children, loss of face in public, rendering one jobless, putting a black mark on character, limiting freedom of movement, loss of important human rights, and cancellation of licenses are some of the damages caused due to unrightfully registered stalking orders.
 
Oregon attorneys dealing in stalking orders have seen real examples of clients’ being harmed due to frivolous stalking order petitioned against them leading to extreme situations until the cases have been solved by them.
    
Now the question is how to deal with such state of affairs. Once any Eugene criminal defense attorney gets involved in such cases, most of the frivolous orders are simply dismissed through both parties mutually agreeing on not to contact each other in future.

The stalking laws have been sadly used in many incidents as a tool to take out personal grievances. The investigation has shown that there have been both ways of communication in many cases and the petitioner has just casually filed the petition without having proper knowledge of the consequences.

Stalking Laws are definitely a powerful mechanism to curb unnecessary harassment and stalking and crimes related to it. But they should be used more judiciously and in genuine cases. This will avoid its misuse and will lead to better and proper implementation of a restraining order in Oregon.

Steps To Get The Restraining Order In Oregon

If your partner threatens or abuses you in Oregon you can get a restraining order from the court which will keep that person away from you and your children, if you have any.  Here are the steps that you have to follow in order to keep yourself safe from that person.

Make Sure That You Are In A Safe Place

Your safety is the first priority and makes sure that you and your family are in a safe place if it needs you to move for some days, do that.

You Should be Qualified

There are some parameters that you should fulfill in order to get qualified to apply for the restraining order in Oregon.

You must be eighteen years or older than that
You should be in a married or sexual relationship with that person to apply for a restraining order.
The restraining order can be filed against any person with whom you have been in a relationship without even living with them. The opposite person must be an adult too.
If you are below 18 years and yet faced any such abuses, your parents must file the restraining order against that person.

Know About Stalking Order

Stalking order is issued when you or your family person have been sexually abused. That person should’ve made an unknown contact with you or any of your family once in a year. The contact should be like a threat to your life. There are many Oregon stalking laws that will help you in keeping yourself safe from these stalkers.

Get the Order

You have to get the Oregon state form that must be filled. You can take help from the measure 11 attorneys in Oregon in order to fill out these forms and submit it to the court.  After filling the forms with necessary details sing it in the presence of notary public and file it in the courthouse of the county in which you live in. Meet with the judge and explain all the situations with him/ her. Get the order served for the person who abused you. You can renew the order if needed.

These are the steps that you have to follow in order to keep yourself from the stalkers.

How Can You Differentiate A Stalking Order From A Restraining Order?

In order to make sure that a country is safe from all kinds of internal disruptions and all the citizens are behaving in a proper manner, the presence of vehement laws is extremely important. It is basically a system that reaches out to the people to look after the fact that they adhere to the specific will of the state. Without these laws, the peace and serenity of the society would tend to get disrupted.

Now, according to the various laws enforced through governmental or social institutions, stalking and restraining laws of a country holds an important position in the advent of safety of the citizens. So in order to understand these laws individually, you first need to see the differences between a restraining order and a stalking order.

Consequences For An Order Violation

As per the Oregon stalking laws, most of the stalking orders are of permanent nature, leaving aside a few exceptions. Whereas, most of the restraining orders are meant to last for about a year and is required to be renewed in the court by the respective petitioner. Moreover, violating a specific stalking order is a grave criminal offence for which you might have to go to behind the bars for around a year.

 In the same context, the violation of the restraining order is not a criminal offence in itself but it proves to be contempt of the court and has a punishment for about six months behind the bars. If the violation of stalking and restraining order in Oregon is repeated for the second time then the person violating the stalking order might go to jail for a longer period of time depending upon his criminal background. Whereas, the punishment for violating the restraining order for the second time still remains to be six months. 
   
Terms For Order Qualification

In most cases, it has been observed that getting a stalking order is much easier as compared to obtaining a restraining order. A restraining order is issued to a person who goes through severe cases of actual abuse in place of just a contact as in the advent of a stalking order.

The Eugene criminal defense attorney clears the fact that for obtaining a restraining order, an act of abuse is mandatory, and for a stalking order, at least two contacts are required. In both the cases, the trials are heard by a specified judge in place of a jury.

Requirement Of A Criminal Defence Lawyer

Whenever people are stuck in the procedures of obtaining a restraining or stalking order, it is always advisable to hire a professional criminal defence lawyer. This is because all the legal procedures are associated with a number of paperwork, trial pleadings, and extensive patience.

Without the presence of a lawyer who has sound knowledge of all these aspects of law, you would tend to lose your track and end up in a huge mess of legal possibilities. Therefore, in order to obtain the restraining and stalking orders without any hassles, always consult a professional criminal defence lawyer.

All You Need To Know About Stalking Orders In Oregon

Stalking is a criminal offense. It is a behavior that can intimidate another individual or induce fear or coerce that individual. It may include harassing them or closely following or monitoring that person. If you have experienced this it is recommended to file a stalking order in Oregon.

If you are unfamiliar with the term, I am here to help you.

A stalking order is a protection given to a victim who has been repeatedly harassed or coerced or even suffered unwanted contact by an individual or group.

It is different from a restraining order in Oregon. While a stalking order is a court order against a person who has been accused of stalking, a restraining order is against a person who has committed domestic violence. So, you should not get confused between the two.

Even though stalking is a crime, it is not yet one, which requires the services of a measure 11 attorney in Oregon.

Some common behaviors of stalking are-

Being followed closely or monitored constantly
Finding someone waiting outside your home or workplace
Committing a crime against you
Getting constant texts, emails or phone calls posing a threat to your safety

Now, a stalking order cannot be filed without a set of requirements. These are as follows-

Two Or More Contacts-
You or a member of your immediate household or family must experience such contact at least twice in the last two years.

Age-
You can be of any age to get a stalking order. But if you are a minor that is under 18, you must have a guardian to file the order for you. It is not necessary to be of 18 years of age.in case of a minor, the guardian is called a “guardian ad litem”.

Contacts Should Coerce-
You should be sure that these contacts coerce or cause fear in you. The contact should cause you to feel alarmed. If you or any of your immediate family member feel threatened about your safety then you can file this order.

Special Rules-
If you have been receiving phone calls or text messages or emails, then you must prove that these contacts make you feel alarmed and make you fear your safety. Also, you need to prove that these contacts intend to pose a direct threat to you.

How To File For A Stalking Order In Oregon?

An order must be filed in the courthouse of the county where the contact took place or where the stalker lives. For filing the order no payment is required. It is completely free.

Now, while filling up the form, no private data should be disclosed. The person who has committed the crime is the “Respondent” and you are the “Petitioner”. Fill the petition completely and carefully. After the form is filled it must be submitted to the court.

After the petition is filled and submitted to the court. The judge asks you some questions usually under the oath. You must answer truthfully. And if the judge decides that your conditions fit the requirements of the law, he/she gives you a ‘Temporary Stalking Protective Order”.

Thereafter a hearing is scheduled and the judge decides whether the temporary stalking order should be made permanent.

I hope the above points have cleared all your queries about this order. If you are experiencing this please take immediate actions.

Visit here to know about Oregon stalking laws.