Expanding ex parte protection area

An ex parte order for protection provides a certain level of immediate protection for a domestic abuse victim.

However, it could get even more specific.

Sponsored by Rep. Debra Hilstrom (DFL-Brooklyn Center), HF2608 would allow courts to provide a reasonable area surrounding a dwelling or a residence in an ex parte order.

This tries to get at people who have no reason to be there, she said.

Approved Feb. 19 by the House Crime Victims/Criminal Records Division, and Feb. 25 by the House Public Safety Policy and Oversight Committee, it awaits action by the full House. A companion, SF2437, sponsored by Sen. Mee Moua (DFL-St. Paul), awaits action by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

According to state statute, if a victim “alleges an immediate and present danger of domestic abuse, the court may grant an ex parte order for protection and granting relief as the court deems proper.” The order can force the offender to stay away from a victim’s residence and workplace and permit no contact between the alleged abuser and their victim.

Vanessa Foster, a legal advocate at Tubman, which offers services and shelter to domestic violence victims, said that when boundaries are not clearly stated, abusers often stretch an order’s limit to harass or intimidate their victims. She said a recent client had her abuser loitering three doors down from her home. “The police could not protect her until he entered her home or threatened to actually hurt her,” Foster said.

“Under current Minnesota law, courts can exclude respondents in orders for protection from a reasonable area surrounding the dwelling or residence of the applicant for the order,” said Matthew Frank, an assistant attorney general. “This provision includes or adds that same language to the ex parte provision that an applicant can apply for from the court.”

What constitutes a reasonable area?

Although nothing is set in stone, Frank said, “Typically, what courts do is define that in terms of geographic area, within a block or two blocks, or within 100 feet or within certain areas the respondent would recognize.”