Some cases don’t resolve in a single hearing. One of our recent clients was dealing with three separate proceedings arising from the same underlying dispute: a criminal harassment charge, a related charge for violating a protection order, and a civil petition for a permanent protection order. All three had to be fought, and fought differently, because each one follows its own rules and its own burden of proof.
The Charges
Criminal harassment under C.R.S. § 18-9-111 covers a range of conduct meant to alarm, annoy, or threaten another person. When a protection order is already in place, any contact or conduct that crosses its terms can also lead to a separate criminal charge for violation of a protection order — a charge Colorado prosecutors take seriously regardless of how the underlying dispute plays out. On top of that, the person who requested the protection order can ask the civil court to make it permanent at a separate hearing under C.R.S. § 13-14-106, which runs independently of the criminal case.
What Happened
Our client went to trial on the harassment charge and was acquitted. Following the acquittal, the district attorney’s office made the decision to dismiss the related charge for violation of a protection order. Separately, in the civil case, we represented our client at the permanent protection order hearing and secured a result in his favor there as well, avoiding a permanent order.
Why Fighting All Three Fronts Mattered
It would have been easy to treat these as one problem, but they’re not. A criminal trial requires the prosecution to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. A permanent protection order hearing is civil, with a lower burden of proof and different rules of evidence — which means a win in the criminal case doesn’t automatically carry over to the civil one. Our client needed a defense strategy built for each proceeding, and a result in one didn’t guarantee the next, which is why we prepared the civil hearing as seriously as the criminal trial rather than assuming the acquittal would settle things.
Facing a Harassment or Protection Order Case?
If you’re dealing with a criminal charge and a civil protection order case at the same time, you need a firm that will fight both. Mile High Legal handles both sides of these cases across Colorado.
