Named Victim

“Generally, though, in a domestic violence case, someone can be subpoenaed to testify against their spouse, marital privilege does not apply in a domestic violence case, because you are the named victim in the case you are the one against whom the crime is alleged to have been perpetrated.”

“So basically what happens is when a domestic violence incident is reported, or an alleged domestic violence incident is reported, the moment that report comes in, the situation is officially out of the hands of the named victim, or the person making the report. So let's say for example, if we have a husband and wife situation, and the husband calls the cops on the wife and says, this is happening, she threw a cup of my head, I need you all to come over here and break this up. The husband's not intending to have anything happen other than separation, he's not trying to get her in trouble.”

“If you're wondering if the named victim, the alleged victim in a domestic violence case can get in trouble for contacting you when there's a protection order in place? The short answer is no. But I want to explain why. So in a domestic violence case, if you are charged with an act of domestic violence against your significant other, you are the defendant, they are the victim. That's how the state sees it, that that's how the court sees it. So you are prevented with that protection order, unless it's otherwise modified.”

“But with the protection order, you are prevented from contacting the named victim in your case, there is nothing about that protection order, though, that prevents them from contacting you. So a lot of the times this gets people into trouble, because they'll think, Okay, well, I'm not allowed, let's say it's a husband and wife and the husband is charged, the husband thinks, Well, I'm not allowed to contact my wife, but she contacted me, so I can respond. Now. You cannot, you cannot respond. So it's really difficult. Because a lot of the times we know that in Colorado, a lot of domestic violence charges are not something that the spouse actually wanted to happen.”

“But with the protection order, you are prevented from contacting the named victim in your case, there is nothing about that protection order, though, that prevents them from contacting you.”