Commonwealth v. John Doe

VIOLATION OF AN ABUSE PREVENTION ORDER DISMISSED FOR LACK OF PROBABLE CAUSE ON A SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE OF ACCIDENT.

The client had a clerk-magistrate hearing on an application for criminal complaint alleging one count of Violation of an Abuse Prevention Order (G.L. c. 209A, §7) stemming from an allegation that the client made a phone call to the subject of the order in violation of the no-contact provision of the order. At the clerk-magistrate hearing, Attorney Patrick J. Noonan successfully argued that the client’s phone call was not intentional, but accidental. The victim received a missed phone call from the client at approximately 6:00 a.m. Attorney Noonan introduced evidence that the client accidentally called the victim’s phone number. After the hearing, the clerk dismissed the complaint after three months.