Violation of a 209A Abuse Prevention Order (M.G.L. c. 209A, § 7)

The Statute: M.G.L. c. 209A, § 7

Violating a civil 209A abuse prevention order, called colloquially a restraining order, is a criminal offense under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 209A, Section 7. The order is civil. Violating its terms is a criminal offense. A defendant need not be convicted, or even charged, with the underlying domestic violence offense to be charged with a violation. A first violation is punishable by up to two and one-half years in a house of correction and a fine of up to $5,000. For repeat violations, Chapter 209A, § 7 sets no separate penalty for a second or subsequent violation. Every violation carries the same maximum: a fine of not more than $5,000, imprisonment for not more than two and one half years in a house of correction, or both. A prior violation is a sentencing argument for the Commonwealth, not a different offense.

For a college or university student, a licensed professional, or a non-citizen, the case outcome can have consequences beyond a fine, probation or any criminal case penalty. We defend these charges in the district courts and the Boston Municipal Court throughout Eastern Massachusetts for clients requiring an acquittal or dismissal. Our dismissals page explains how a Massachusetts criminal case can be dismissed.

Which Provisions of a 209A Order Create Criminal Liability

Not every provision of a 209A order is a crime under Section 7. Only violations of the following provisions are criminal:

• The no-abuse provision: prohibiting the defendant from abusing the plaintiff.
• The no-contact provision: prohibiting the defendant from contacting the plaintiff by any means.
• The stay-away provision: requiring the defendant to remain a specified distance from the plaintiff’s residence, workplace, or other identified locations.
• The firearms surrender provision: requiring the defendant to surrender all firearms, ammunition, and any License to Carry within 24 hours.

Violations of other provisions may be enforceable through civil contempt complaints but do not independently generate criminal liability. See: Defending 209A and 258E Restraining Order Violations.

Mandatory Arrest

Under M.G.L. c. 209A, § 6, a police officer who has probable cause to believe a person has violated a 209A order may and usually must arrest that person. There is often no officer discretion. The mandatory arrest policy applies even when the alleged victim requests that no arrest be made and even when the contact was initiated by the alleged victim. The order restrains the defendant’s conduct only, not the plaintiff’s. A defendant who receives a call from the plaintiff and responds in any way is not excused from criminal liability for the resulting contact, even if the plaintiff initiated it.

Elements the Commonwealth Must Prove

• A valid 209A order was in effect at the time of the alleged violation.
• The defendant had actual knowledge of the order and its terms.
• The defendant violated a criminal provision of the order.
• The violation was intentional.

Lack of notice is a complete defense. If the defendant was never properly served with the order and had no actual knowledge of its existence or terms, the knowledge element is not met.

Defenses to a 209A Restraining Order Violation Charge

The Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knowingly and intentionally violated a criminal provision of a 209A order. Each element is subject to challenge, and the defenses available depend on the specific facts of the alleged violation.

Accidental and Incidental Contact

The most commonly misunderstood aspect of 209A order compliance is that not every contact between a defendant and a plaintiff while an order is in effect constitutes a criminal violation. The intent element must be proved. Genuinely accidental contact that a defendant then immediately terminates is not a violation of M.G.L. c. 209A, § 7.

Common scenarios where accidental or incidental contact arises include running into the plaintiff unexpectedly at a grocery store, pharmacy, gas station, or other public location. When that happens, the defendant’s obligation is to leave immediately and have no further interaction. A defendant who sees the plaintiff, turns around, and leaves has not violated the order. A defendant who stops, speaks, or lingers has. The distinction between the two is the difference between a criminal violation and a lawful response to an unexpected encounter.

The same principle applies to shared obligations that bring the parties into mutual proximity. A defendant required by a family court order to attend a child’s school event, medical appointment, or custody exchange may find themselves in the same location as the plaintiff. Contact in those circumstances limited to the legal purposes of the meeting is not a violation. Defense counsel should obtain all relevant family court orders before any pretrial proceeding so that the context of any alleged contact is fully documented.

A defendant who receives an unsolicited call, text, or message from the plaintiff faces a more difficult situation. A 209A order controls the conduct of the defendant, not the plaintiff. Moreover, the plaintiff cannot grant permission for contact during an active order. A defendant who receives an unexpected call and immediately ends it, without speaking, has not violated the order. A defendant who answers and responds or continues a conversation has violated the order.

Lack of Notice

A defendant who was never properly served with the order and had no actual knowledge of its existence or terms cannot have knowingly violated it. The knowledge element is an essential element the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt. Service by a police officer, a constable, or at arraignment on the underlying domestic violence charge is ordinarily sufficient to establish notice. But when service is disputed, when the order was amended after initial service without re-service on the defendant, or when the defendant received only a partial description of the order’s terms, the knowledge element is open to challenge.

Insufficient Evidence of the Specific Provision Violated

The Commonwealth must identify the specific criminal provision of the order that was violated. A 209A order violation is criminal only when the defendant violated the no-abuse, no-contact, stay-away, or firearms surrender provision. Violations of other provisions, including support obligations, may be civilly enforceable but do not generate criminal liability under Section 7. If the Commonwealth charges a violation but cannot identify which criminal provision the defendant violated, or if the conduct the Commonwealth relies on falls outside the criminal provisions entirely, the charge fails.

The stay-away provision requires proof that the defendant was within the specified distance of the protected location. If the order required a 100-yard stay-away and the Commonwealth cannot establish through witness testimony, surveillance, or other evidence that the defendant was within 100 yards, the element is not proved. Defense counsel should identify the precise geographic boundary specified in the order and examine exactly what evidence the Commonwealth has of the defendant’s location.

Plaintiff-Initiated Contact

A plaintiff who initiates the contact that generated the violation charge can sometimes make a violation more difficult to prove. Initial contact does not excuse the violation as a matter of law, but it can bear on whether the defendant acted intentionally in violation of the order or responded minimally to an unexpected approach from the plaintiff. A defendant who was called, texted, or approached by the plaintiff and who responded out of necessity can present a different factual picture from a defendant who sought the plaintiff out. Documented evidence of the plaintiff’s initiation, including call logs, text message records, and witness accounts, is essential to developing this defense.

Marital Privilege

When the alleged violation involves contact between the defendant and the plaintiff who are legally married, the plaintiff may invoke the marital privilege under M.G.L. c. 233, § 20 and decline to testify against the defendant. If the violation charge rests entirely on the plaintiff’s account and the plaintiff invokes the privilege, the Commonwealth may lack sufficient admissible evidence to proceed on the Section 7 charge. A defendant cannot encourage a plaintiff to invoke the privilege. Doing so can create a “forfeiture by wrongdoing” scenario that can allow the Commonwealth to introduce the spouse’s prior statements without their live testimony. See: Massachusetts Domestic Violence FAQs.

Excited Utterances in 209A Violation Cases

In 209A violation cases, the excited utterance exception arises when the Commonwealth seeks to introduce out-of-court statements the plaintiff made at the time of the alleged violation to establish that a violation occurred. The most common scenario involves a complainant who called 911 to report that the defendant came to their residence in violation of the stay-away order and who made statements to the first responding officer at the scene. If the complainant does not appear at trial, the Commonwealth sometimes moves to introduce those statements as excited utterances under Massachusetts Guide to Evidence § 803(2).

The defense challenge focuses on whether the violation itself, whether a phone call, a text message, or an appearance at a location, constitutes a sufficiently startling event to generate an excited utterance. A phone call from a restrained person, standing alone, does not necessarily place the recipient in the kind of stress that generates spontaneous statements. A physical confrontation at the door is a different matter. The nature of the alleged violation determines the foundation, and defense counsel must examine the specific facts of the complainant’s demeanor and situation at the time any statement was made. See: Excited Utterances, Forfeiture by Wrongdoing, and the Confrontation Clause.

Forfeiture by Wrongdoing

Under the forfeiture by wrongdoing doctrine recognized in Giles v. California (554 U.S. 353, 2008), a defendant who contacts the plaintiff in violation of the 209A order and influences the plaintiff not to testify forfeits their rights under the Confrontation Clause and Crawford v. Washington (541 U.S. 36, 2004). The Commonwealth can then introduce the plaintiff’s prior out-of-court statements as substantive evidence. The same contact generates a criminal charge for the violation and may also generate a separate witness intimidation charge under M.G.L. c. 268, § 13B. That charge is a felony. A conviction can never be sealed. All contact with the plaintiff must go through counsel. See Defending 209A and 258E Restraining Order Violations.

Collateral Consequences

Second offense. A second or subsequent violation is a felony punishable by up to five years in state prison. A prior CWOF counts.

Immigration. A 209A restraining order violation can make a noncitizen inadmissible or removable under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(ii). A non-citizen convicted of violating a 209A order can sometimes be deported even if the underlying domestic violence charge was dismissed. See: Immigration Consequences of Massachusetts Criminal Charges.

Professional licensing. A conviction or CWOF triggers reporting obligations to most Massachusetts licensing boards. See: Criminal Defense for Licensed Professionals.

Firearms. A conviction triggers the federal Lautenberg Amendment (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9)) if the plaintiff is a family or household member, permanently prohibiting firearm possession.

Defense

Lack of notice. If the defendant was never served with the order and had no actual knowledge of its terms, the knowledge element is not satisfied.

Accidental contact. Accidental contact that the defendant immediately terminated does not satisfy the intent element.

Plaintiff-initiated contact. While plaintiff-initiated contact does not excuse a violation, it is relevant to the defendant’s state of mind and to credibility arguments at trial.

Marital privilege. Under M.G.L. c. 233, § 20, a legally married spouse cannot be compelled to testify against the other spouse. If the violation charge rests on the plaintiff’s testimony and the plaintiff invokes the privilege, the Commonwealth may lack sufficient evidence to proceed. See: Massachusetts Domestic Violence FAQs.

Challenging the excited utterance foundation. Defense counsel examines whether the alleged violation was sufficiently startling to generate the requisite spontaneous excitement and whether any police questioning transformed the statement from spontaneous to testimonial under Davis v. Washington (547 U.S. 813, 2006).

Related Pages

• Boston Domestic Violence Defense Lawyer. Practice Area Hub
• Massachusetts 209A Abuse Prevention Orders
• Massachusetts 258E Harassment Prevention Orders
• Violation of a 258E Civil Harassment Prevention Order
• Assault and Battery on a Family or Household Member (M.G.L. c. 265, § 13M)
• Intimidation of a Witness (M.G.L. c. 268, § 13B)
• Arraignment in the Massachusetts Trial Court
• CWOF, Pretrial Probation, and Diversion in Massachusetts FAQs
• Massachusetts Domestic Violence FAQs
• Immigration Consequences of Massachusetts Criminal Charges
• Criminal Defense for Licensed Professionals in Massachusetts
• Defending 209A and 258E Restraining Order Violations
• Excited Utterances, Forfeiture by Wrongdoing, and the Confrontation Clause
• Violation of a 209A Abuse Prevention Order (M.G.L. c. 209A, § 7)
• Violation of a 258E Civil Harassment Prevention Order (M.G.L. c. 258E, § 9)
• Assault and Battery on a Family or Household Member (M.G.L. c. 265, § 13M)
• Massachusetts Domestic Violence Sentencing Enhancements

A charge of violating a 209A restraining order creates a criminal record, and the CORI sealing and expungement statutes govern that record even when the charge ends in a dismissal. The abuse prevention order itself is separate: it remains in the statewide registry after it expires or is vacated, and a judge may expunge the registry entry only on clear and convincing proof of fraud on the court. Serpa Law Office explains the criminal record side on its page on sealing and expunging a Massachusetts criminal record and the registry side on its page on expunging a Massachusetts restraining order.

A criminal charge adds entries on both records in the form of a new CORI entry and a new violation entry in the statewide domestic violence record keeping system. The firm’s page on domestic violence case records covers both.

Contact Serpa Law Office at 617.936.0201 for a confidential consultation. Boston office: 20 Park Plaza #400A. Quincy office: 500 Victory Rd., Suite 400A. Available 24 hours a day.