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General Sequence Of Events

The following describes what will, or may have already happened to you if someone (and it need not be your intimate partner) reports you for domestic violence. However, not every case will follow this exact sequence. But in all domestic violence cases you are presumed guilty until you can prove your innocence and due process is nonexistent.

Under the broad category of domestic violence the Colorado Bureau of Investigation tracks homicides, forcible sex offenses, non-force sex offenses, robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault, intimidation (non-force), and kidnapping.

In prosecuting domestic violence cases the district attorneys are out to win. Whether you are guilty or innocent is of no consequence to them. They most definitely do not want to be perceived as soft on domestic violence defendants. Further, domestic violence is now being called the new Jim Crow. If you are black you are much more likely to arrested, convicted, and spend a longer time in jail on domestic violence charges.

Note that under current law and police practices we do not recommend a man being assaulted by a woman call the police except under the most extreme circumstances.

See the section on male defenses for other ideas on how to deal with these situations.


Descent into hell often begins by dialing 911

1. A call to 911 is generally mutually assured destruction of a relationship, marriage, family, and the lives of all involved. As Glenn Sacks puts it:

"It doesn't matter that you're innocent. Or that she attacked you first. Or that you both went over the line and that both of you want to put it behind you and work it out. The system will prosecute you and persecute you until you've confessed your sins — even if you've none to confess. And you' re not cured until they say you're cured — even if you were never sick to begin with."

2. Once made, a 911 call cannot be cancelled. The police must respond. If the phone is hung up after dialing, the emergency response team will call back. If no answer, or foul play is suspected, and it almost always is, the police will respond to investigate. In one case reported to the Equal Justice Foundation a woman hemorrhaging as a result of a tubal pregnancy was treated by police as domestic violence and the woman nearly died while police insisted on investigating the "violence."

In about half the domestic disturbance cases the 911 call is made by someone other than the couple. Neighbors, children (who are taught in school to call 911 if Mom and Dad are arguing), or a passer by may call if they hear loud noises, arguing, screaming, loud sex, etc. from a home or apartment. You can be arrested for "domestic violence" for having a pillow fight with your wife or watching TV with the sound turned up. If this happens to you, you may want to try filing a Motion to Dismiss (Word) based on your Constitutional rights to privacy.

3. Interfering with a person making a 911 call, or any call, is a Class 1 misdemeanor (Table 79) under C.R.S. § 18-9-306.5.

4. If you call for an ambulance the police will likely arrive first and investigate with a presumption of family violence. They will also use that presumption as an excuse to search your home without a warrant.

5. Time after time we hear from men who called the police because their wife or lover was assaulting them or the children and, when the police arrived, he was the one arrested under Colorado's mandatory arrest law .

If you are male we do not recommend you call the police about domestic violence. The draconian police response has also made large numbers of women afraid to call 911 as well (Table 3).

If possible, leave and go to a friend's house, check into a motel, or sleep in the car or park if you have to. Don't assume you are safe however, as we also have many, many reports of women calling the police after the man leaves and accusing him though the violence was all hers.

There are suggestions on how to deal with female violence in the Defensive Male Actions Under the Current Laws section.

6. The police will enter your home night or day and search for evidence of violence without a warrant. We have repeatedly heard reports that women cut up clothes, scratch or bruise themselves, or break things in the house, and then blame their male partner. Deliberate self injury is five times as common as criminal domestic violence but such false allegations and perjury are never prosecuted.

7. An arrest must be made if domestic violence is alleged by anyone calling 911, or is inferred (probable cause) by the police or dispatcher C.R.S. § 18-6-803.6 whether or not the caller is involved in the alleged incident. No warrant for the arrest is required even if it is made days later by officers who never saw or talked to the woman making the accusation.

If there is the slightest evidence of violence, a loud argument, interfering with a telephone call, or insulting or abrasive language, one or both of the parties will be arrested although at least 75% of the time only the male is taken into custody. Police training generally discourages dual arrests and primary aggressor statutes are used to train and justify arrest of the male almost without regard to the circumstances.

If children are present, they may be placed in foster care or left in the care of the female, even when the male has been defending the children against the woman. If the children are taken to foster care it may be weeks, months, or never before the parents see their children again.

8. You cannot be released, i.e., a summons issued in lieu of arrest, at the scene of the alleged crime C.R.S. § 16-3-105 when domestic violence is involved.

9. A woman may obtain the same results as dialing 911 by going to a hospital, a doctor, or going to the police station. If one of the parties should seek medical treatment after a dispute then doctors and hospitals are required C.R.S. § 12-36-135 to report the case to the police. However, if the victim is male commonly no official report will be made.

Though we continually encounter cases where women inflict injuries on themselves, generally there is no attempt made to determine whether a woman's injuries might be deliberately self inflicted or due to a cause other than domestic violence (see When It Is Not Domestic Violence for examples).

Once reported to medical authorities, the other party in the dispute will be arrested regardless of any physical evidence. The statements of the party seeking medical aid will not be questioned before the trial. Medical evidence and prior history of the accuser, e.g., alcoholism, mental instability, infidelity, prostitution, or pre-existing medical problems of the "victim" will almost certainly be suppressed by the prosecution during trial. From first to last the attitude will be: You are male, you are guilty! And if you are black you are doubly guilty. Domestic violence laws are referred to as the new Jim Crow in black communities.

10. Once arrested, you will be held in jail for an indefinite period usually without an opportunity to post bail before appearing before a magistrate. Since domestic disputes often occur on a Friday evening, this commonly means a weekend in jail and almost always at least a night. Many spend four or five days in jail without an opportunity to post bond, and some spend a month.

In many counties you will be required to pay room and board for the time you spend in jail whether you are convicted or not.

11. It is a very common tactic for prosecutors to tack on additional charges against you after your arrest. A district attorney will try very hard to get felony charges added as this gives them a much stronger position when they try to get you to accept a plea bargain. We repeatedly hear that men are held indefinitely without bond while the prosecutor "completes her investigation."

Tacking on additional charges against you also increases the bail you must post to get out of jail. Despite the Eighth Amendment we now commonly hear of bail being set in amounts of $150,000 to $250,000, with a high of $600,000, in domestic violence cases.


Mandatory protection order

1. In order to be released from jail you will be issued a mandatory protection order C.R.S. § 18-1-1001 that you must sign and acknowledge. The protection order will include C.R.S. § 18-1-1001 (3):

(a) An order to vacate or stay away from the home of the victim and to stay away from any other location where the victim is likely to be found. Usually this means you can't go back to your own home even if she doesn't live there or have any claim to be on the property;

(b) An order to refrain from contact or direct or indirect communication with the victim, i.e., you can't contact any of her or your friends to obtain witnesses on your behalf. Nor can any of your relatives or friends call her even if they do it without your knowledge or consent;

(c) An order prohibiting possession or control of firearms or other weapons, and that becomes a Federal felony under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8 and 9) ;

(d) An order prohibiting possession or consumption of alcohol or controlled substances; and

(e) Any other order the court deems appropriate to protect the safety of the alleged victim. For example, as a condition of your release on bail you may be required to wear an electronic, or GPS, tracking bracelet until your trial.

No determination of your guilt is required before imposing such punishments.

2. The mandatory protection order only works one way. You are restrained from contacting her, her friends, and relations. However, she may call and harass and stalk you in any manner she fancies and no action will be taken against her. The Defensive Male Actions Under the Current Laws should provide you ideas on how to record her actions and defend yourself against the spurious charges she will almost certainly bring against you.

When she does call you must not talk with her, and it is essential that you record her calls for your defense. Photographic evidence of her stalking is necessary as well. If she comes to your house you cannot let her enter as you are then violating the protection order, not her. And if you see her accidentally in public, leave the area immediately, and hope she hasn't seen you. But the saying goes that cell phones were invented for women to report protection order violations.


No contact means no contact

1. No contact means "no contact," either directly or indirectly . All of the following examples have resulted in men being arrested, often repeatedly. We have heard of men being arrested on trumped-up protection order violations as frequently as twelve times within a month.

Accidental contact, or her seeing you in a grocery store or mall can and will get you arrested if she reports it. And what else is her cell phone for?

You cannot contact her through a third-party or talk to or write any of "her" friends. They may have been "your" friends before but after the protection order is issued any female friends are hers. And if an acquaintance does mention to her that "Joe said..." that is indirect contact and will get you arrested as well.

If one of your relatives, e.g., the kid's paternal grandmother, calls her or the grandkids that is indirect contact.

If your kids call you that is a violation of the protection order.

If you accidentally hit the autodialer on your cell phone and it dials your home number, that is a violation and you can go to jail. Men have had their cell phones in their pocket and it has dialed home. Jail him!

Your computer may get infected with a virus or a worm and send her (and everyone else you've ever sent electronic mail to) an email. That has been construed as a violation of the protection order.

Even if you run into her in court you can be held in violation of the protection order.

In one case the Eagle County district attorney charged a man with violating the protection order because the woman who had charged him with domestic violence came to visit him while he was locked up.

Nor is the prosecutor required to give you a trial and (s)he need only show a preponderance of evidence is against you at any hearing. The hearing will likely not occur until you've spent a week or so in jail. And since you have "violated" the protection order, the prosecutor will argue you are obviously too dangerous to be freed on bail before the contempt hearing, where the outcome is usually predetermined.

2. If, at any time, you violate any of the terms of the protection order, however inadvertently, you will be put in jail, typically for a minimum of 3 months for the first offense. The only constraint on this insane approach seems to be that the jails are already overcrowded with such cases.

So make absolutely sure you keep clear of her. If you are living in the same town, particularly in the small towns of the western slope, or the eastern plains, you are in extreme danger of this kind of harassment from her, and it is reported to be happening ever more frequently. If there are multiple offenses against the protection order the law requires that the sentences be served consecutively.



This article has been brought to you by the Dome$tic Violence Indu$try Industry Awareness Campaign, the fine folks who are bringing you the National Dome$tic Violence Indu$try Industry Awareness Year - see us, on the web, at www.DVIAC.org. We are supported by ongoing harassment and generous amounts of interference from WOMAN, Incorporated, elements of the San Francisco Superior Court's Family Division, and the so-called 'editorial' staff, there, at Craigslist, Incorporated - thank you!