Stalking Charges and Protection From Abuse Orders in Westmoreland County

Stalking is often associated with harassment, violence, theft, property damage, and other serious crimes. That's why Pennsylvania has long held little tolerance for it, assigning criminal penalties like jail sentences and enormous fines to those convicted. There's also the possibility of civil actions like a Protection From Abuse (PFA) order. The social and vocational consequences are often severe as well.

Considering how deeply a stalking conviction can affect your life, seek out skilled legal representation as soon as you're notified of the charge and/or PFA order against you in Westmoreland County. Armed with experience, passion, and tenacity, the LLF Law Firm Criminal Defense Team is prepared to step in on your behalf right away. Just call them today at 888-535-3686 or fill out their confidential consultation form.

In Westmoreland County, PFA orders are valid and enforceable for up to three years once a judge approves them. For that time period, you may have to comply with numerous stipulations, especially:

• Submission to sharper scrutiny from employers and law officers.
• Payment for support and other necessary expenses for your partner and any child(ren) you share.
• Temporary loss of custody of said child(ren) to your partner.
• Eviction from any residence you share with your partner
• No contact with the petitioner, whether directly or through third parties.

From your housing opportunities to personal relationships to career aspirations, everything in your life could change for the worse if you have a stalking charge on your record. Get ahead of it immediately by contacting the LLF Law Firm Criminal Defense Team.

Stalking Laws in Pennsylvania

Are you wondering why you're being accused of stalking or how you could avoid it in the first place? All it takes is reviewing Pennsylvania law, which states that stalking is basically a pattern of malicious behavior. Specifically, it includes:

1. Intent to harm a person and/or their loved ones physically, financially, mentally, emotionally, socially, or materially.
2. Intent to cause permanent or temporary mental or emotional distress potent enough to impact the health and daily life of a person and/or their loved ones.

If you're charged with stalking in Westmoreland County, the judge who takes your case will consider numerous factors in their ruling. The following tend to hold the most weight:

• Emotional Distress: The plaintiff can prove that they have suffered significant damage to their emotional state because of the defendant's actions.
• Repeated Acts: Unwanted and unexpected contact or proximity happens at least twice or more within a short time or at regular intervals.
• Course of Conduct: Most or all instances of contact included disturbing or abusive behavior, such as intimidation, threats, harassment, bullying, or assault.
• Intent: All these other factors together demonstrate a clear motive on the part of the defendant to harm the plaintiff in some way.

In Westmoreland County, second and subsequent charges are usually graded as second or third-degree felonies. First-time stalking offenses typically go on the record as first-degree misdemeanors, but they can be elevated to felonies as well if committed in tandem with any of the following crimes:

• Kidnapping
• Rape
• Involuntary deviant sexual intercourse
• Aggravated assault
• Simple assault
• Reckless endangerment
• Breach of a PFA order

Grading Criminal Stalking Charges

The defendant's criminal history is another contributing factor to the ultimate grade of a stalking charge in Westmoreland County. If stalking is the first and only offense on your record so far, it will likely be written up as a misdemeanor, and the judge may sentence you to a maximum of $10,000 fines and/or up to five years in prison.

If you already have a prior record—particularly with serious crimes—or if the plaintiff is a member of your family or household, the judge may designate the charge as a felony. That comes with fines of up to $15,000 and seven years in prison.

Stalking commonly involves other crimes, which often compels the judge to grade the charge higher and require harsher penalties. As another example of this, stalking is considered graver if it includes statements that Pennsylvania law deems as “seriously disparaging” regarding the plaintiff's child and/or if the statements cause “substantial emotional distress…which produces some physical manifestation.”

Terroristic threats may raise the charges, too. This is how Pennsylvania law defines them:

• A demonstrable intent to terrorize the victim(s).
• Causing people to evacuate a house, residential complex, public building, or place of assembly.

Perhaps the things that said that the plaintiff claims were “seriously disparaging” or “terroristic threats” were nothing more than miscommunications or exaggerated and hyperbolic expressions of your feelings. Still, a Westmoreland County judge might agree with the plaintiff's perspective and record your stalking charge as a felony rather than a misdemeanor.

How Stalking in Westmoreland County Leads to Protection from Abuse Orders

As if the criminal penalties aren't enough to derail your life, the civil consequences can prove equally devastating. Take the Protection From Abuse (PFA) orders, with which Westmoreland County courts strive to protect domestic violence victims, especially:

• The defendant's children, siblings, parents, and other families by blood or marriage.
• The defendant's former and current sexual partners.
• The defendant's former or current spouse or any partner who has lived or currently lives with them.

PFA orders are available to victims of kidnapping, isolation, involuntary confinement, or physical or sexual abuse and to those with a legitimate reason to fear harm from a person who has exhibited the behavior of a stalker as defined by law. Victims can obtain a PFA by visiting the Westmoreland County administration office at 2 North Main Street, Greensburg, PA, 15601. Their application must include as many details as possible, especially:

• The stalker's course of conduct, including specific abusive actions or threats.
• How the stalker has harmed the petitioner physically, mentally, or emotionally.
• The dates, times, and locations of every stalking incident or associated crime.
• A list of perpetrators, witnesses, and other third parties relevant to the case.

For dire or special circumstances, petitioners can obtain a standard PFA order with additional stipulations. The most common include:

• Sole occupation of any residence that the petitioner shares with the stalker, who gets evicted.
• Having law enforcement officers confiscate the stalker's firearms and ammunition, if applicable.
• Full custody of any children that the petition shares with the stalker.
• Payment of legal fees, relevant medical expenses, and spousal and/or child support from the stalker.
• No contact between the stalker and petitioner or any of their loved ones, including shared children.

Temporary Orders

The Westmoreland County courts often grant PFA orders on an ex-parte basis, which means that the judges don't require defendants to be present. In other words, you don't get to advocate for yourself before your accuser obtains that PFA order against you. However, the order is only valid for ten business days; by then, the court must have held a formal hearing about the stalking charge.

Emergency PFA orders are available to petitioners as well, so long as a magisterial judge determines that they meet the following criteria:

• The petitioner can demonstrate that they have a “true emergency,” a reason to believe that they and/or their loved ones will come to immediate harm at the hands of the defendant.
• The petitioner filed for the order when the Court of Common Pleas was closed and unable to conduct a hearing right away.

Unless a Westmoreland County court changes it to a permanent PFA order before then, the emergency one will expire at the end of the following business day. The court will not make additional decisions until the formal hearing.

Protection From Abuse Hearings in Westmoreland County

As the defendant, the formal hearing is your best opportunity to explain your side of the story to a Westmoreland County judge. You'll get to present evidence, context, witness statements, and arguments to convince the judge to dismiss or minimize the charges. However, your accuser will have a chance to do the same. If that judge rules in their favor, they'll finalize the PFA order and distribute copies to licensing agencies and local law enforcement, as well as your employer and children's schools. Plus, the information and evidence could work against you in criminal court and child custody hearings, worsening your situation.

Even the most seemingly straightforward can quickly become complicated, so you need experienced attorneys to support you and help you navigate this hearing. The LLF Law Firm Criminal Defense Team will gladly protect you from being villainized or convicted based on insufficient evidence, poor logic, or minor procedural errors. Let them help you.

Provisions and Impact of a PFA

A PFA order isn't just a piece of paper. It can have immediate and long-lasting repercussions on your life for years, especially if a judge rules that you're guilty of stalking. You could experience any or all of the following:

• Heightened Scrutiny: What usually happens if you commit a minor crime or infraction is that you'll get hit with a warning or a small fine. However, if a law enforcement officer finds out that you have a stalking conviction, the penalties could be more severe, such as heftier fines or even jail time.
• Loss of Rights: Felonies sometimes result in the removal of the right to bear arms, particularly if they suggest a dangerous temperament or unreliable character. It's possible that a stalking conviction will force you to give up your firearms, ammunition, and other weapons to law enforcement.
• Trouble Advancing Your Employment: Many companies and licensing agencies require applicants for promotions or new jobs to undergo background screenings that include criminal history checks. Stalking and associated crimes are often considered serious enough for employers to doubt that an applicant is safe to hire, so you're more likely to be declined. Whether you need a new job, want to switch careers, or move up in your current field, you'll find it to be much harder than before.
• Struggle Securing Housing: As with employers and licensing agencies, landlords and leasing companies want to feel as safe as possible about lending their properties to others, so they run background checks on applicants as well. Egregious crimes like stalking suggest that you might be violent or unstable, making you a high risk in the eyes of the property owner. It doesn't help that the PFA order would throw your dependability into question by putting an eviction on your record. With fewer property owners willing to rent to you, you could either end up homeless or in poor-quality housing.

What Happens If Defendants Violate a PFA?

PFA orders are civil actions, but violations are treated as crimes, even if they're simple misunderstandings or accidents. If you're suspected of a violation, law enforcement can arrest you without a warrant, and a judge may determine that you're guilty of indirect criminal contempt of court. As a second-degree misdemeanor, it carries the following penalties:

• Up to six months of jail time for each count of contempt.
• A maximum of $1,000 per violation.
• Adjustments in child custody or visitation schedules.

There are alternatives to these penalties. Depending on whether the judge thinks it would benefit you more, they may require you to enroll in anger management courses, domestic violence counseling, or other rehabilitative programs, as well as probation.

In the event that the PFA violation involves committing new crimes—especially bullying, harassment, threats, intimidation, property damage, or assault—you'll become the defendant of a new case in the Westmoreland County courts. If you're convicted, the crimes will likely be graded as third-degree felonies, and you'll be saddled with more penalties.

Can You Modify a PFA?

With time, you and/or your accuser may wish to modify a PFA order. Even if you agree on the changes, though, they're considered invalid without the Westmoreland County judge's approval. Without that, acting on the new agreements between you and your accuser could land you in just as much trouble as if they'd never happened. If your accuser is willing, have your legal teams collaborate on the modifications and get them approved.

On the other hand, your accuser can modify a PFA order in a way that burdens you further. For example, by claiming that you've violated it with harassment, bullying, abuse, threats, or additional stalking, they can ask the court to extend the order's expiration date. They don't need your permission for this, but you would have 30 days from the new order's issuance to file an appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court.

Your Resource for Westmoreland County Stalking Charges and Protection From Abuse Orders

Again, no court will demand that a petitioner for a PFA order present you before them to argue your case before they approve it. You could be completely blindsided by the notification of a PFA order against you. From there, court proceedings tend to move quickly while your entire life is drastically altered to fit around the order. It's easy to feel like you are drowning in shock and complex or burdensome legal requirements. The more it seems everything slips out of your control, the harder it will be to fix the mess before it gets worse.

You deserve attorneys who understand and care enough to fight for you. With their extensive knowledge of stalking and other criminal laws in Pennsylvania, the LLF Law Firm Criminal Defense Team is exactly what you need. Consider everything that they bring to the table:

• Legal Advice: You may not fully understand what your accuser's PFA order requires of you, adding to your stress and increasing the likelihood that you'll violate it. The LLF Law Firm Criminal Defense Team is adept at interpreting PFA orders. They'll help you comply so that you can present yourself in court in a positive light and avoid getting into deeper trouble.
• Multifaceted and Intelligent Defense Strategies: Your entire life and character cannot be summed up in a stalking case. The LLF Law Firm knows that. They're brilliant at fusing their legal prowess with a high emotional IQ to ensure that the court sees you as a whole person, inspiring fair, sympathetic, and lenient treatment.
• Continued Support: Your fight to self-advocate doesn't have to end with a stalking conviction or finalized PFA order. You can still request modifications or file appeals and disputes. The LLF Law Firm Criminal Defense will be at your side for all of it because they won't give up on you.

You can live and thrive in Westmoreland County despite stalking accusations and PFA orders. All you have to do is secure the excellent legal help that you need and deserve. The LLF Law Firm Criminal Defense Team is as committed to your future as you are, so if you're ready to combat the charges, call them today at 888-535-3686 or fill out a confidential consultation form.