Legal Question in Criminal Law in New York

Re: protection order

If the order of protection was issued as part of a criminal prosecution you should contact the local district attorney's office and ask to speak with the assistant district attorney (prosecutor) assigned to your case. Some jurisdictions request an order of protection on almost every case that involves a victim of a crime.

Depending on the facts of the case the prosecutor may refuse to drop the order of protection at your request. This sometimes happens with cases involving domestic violence. You may be able to get the prosecutor to reduce a full order of protection to a limited order of protection, which would allow the person who you have the order of protection against to have contact with you, but not commit any crimes against you.

If the assigned prosecutor is unresponsive or refuses to remove the order of protection you can contact the defense attorney of the party you have the order of protection against and indicate that you wish to have it removed. The defense attorney can make a record on the next court date. It would be beneficial if you also attended the court date, so that the judge could ask you questions if he/she desired. In the end the judge makes the final decision whether or not the order of protection can be lifted.