Offense of Violating Family Violence Order; Penalty

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Crimes and Offenses
  4. Crimes Against the Person
  5. Stalking
  6. Offense of Violating Family Violence Order; Penalty

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  1. As used in this Code section, the term:
    1. "Civil family violence order" means any temporary protective order or permanent protective order issued pursuant to Article 1 of Chapter 13 of Title 19.
    2. "Criminal family violence order" means:
      1. Any order of pretrial release issued as a result of an arrest for an act of family violence; or
      2. Any order for probation issued as a result of a conviction or plea of guilty, nolo contendere, or first offender to an act of family violence.
    3. "Family violence" shall have the same meaning as set forth in Code Section 19-13-1.
  2. A person commits the offense of violating a civil family violence order or criminal family violence order when such person knowingly and in a nonviolent manner violates the terms of such order issued against that person, which:
    1. Excludes, evicts, or excludes and evicts the person from a residence or household;
    2. Directs the person to stay away from a residence, workplace, or school;
    3. Restrains the person from approaching within a specified distance of another person; or
    4. Restricts the person from having any contact, direct or indirect, by telephone, pager, facsimile, e-mail, or any other means of communication with another person, except as specified in such order.
  3. Any person convicted of a violation of subsection (b) of this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
  4. Nothing contained in this Code section shall prohibit a prosecution for the offense of stalking or aggravated stalking that arose out of the same course of conduct; provided, however, that, for purposes of sentencing, a violation of this Code section shall be merged with a violation of any provision of Code Section 16-5-90 or 16-5-91 that arose out of the same course of conduct.

(Code 1981, §16-5-95, enacted by Ga. L. 2003, p. 652, § 1; Ga. L. 2013, p. 667, § 1/SB 86.)

Cross references.

- Termination of residential lease after issuance of civil family violence order or criminal family violence order, § 44-7-23.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Charging instrument defective.

- Trial court's denial of a defendant's general demurrer to a charge against the defendant of violation of a family violence order, in violation of O.C.G.A. § 16-5-95(a) (now subsection (b)), was error as the accusation failed to state any specific acts that violated any specific terms of a family violence order, such that the accusation failed to set out the essential elements of the crime or to apprise the defendant properly of the charge pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 17-7-71(c). Newsome v. State, 296 Ga. App. 490, 675 S.E.2d 229 (2009).

Jury instruction erroneous.

- Defendant's conviction for violating a family violence protective order as a lesser included offense of aggravated stalking was reversed on appeal because the defendant was not indicted for the family violence protective order violation; thus, the trial court erred in instructing the jury on the lesser offense. Edgecomb v. State, 319 Ga. App. 804, 738 S.E.2d 645 (2013).

Instruction properly denied.

- Because there was no evidence that could have shown that the defendant violated the protective order, but nonviolently, the evidence either showed the defendant committed aggravated stalking or no offense, the defendant was not entitled to a jury instruction on violation of a temporary protective order as a lesser included offense of aggravated stalking. Slaughter v. State, 327 Ga. App. 593, 760 S.E.2d 609 (2014).


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