{"id":7045638,"date":"2026-08-24T04:58:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T04:58:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/legal\/should-a-cpo-aso-case-trail-a-related-criminal-matter\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T04:58:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T04:58:31","slug":"should-a-cpo-aso-case-trail-a-related-criminal-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7045638","title":{"rendered":"Should a CPO\/ASO case “trail” a related criminal matter"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Domestic violence charges in criminal court are frequently accompanied by a petition for a civil protection order (CPO)<\/a> or anti-stalking order (ASO)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is because one incident can lead to two separate cases \u2013 one criminal and the other civil.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Gavel<\/a>The target of misconduct allegations can be simultaneously the defendant in a criminal case and the respondent in a civil case.<\/p>\n

The civil case will proceed much more quickly.\u00a0 This is because, absent consent by both parties, the hearings can only be extended in 14- or 28-day increments while criminal cases can drag for months and even years.<\/p>\n

This disparity in timeframe often leads to agreement by the parties that the CPO\/ASO case will \u201ctrail\u201d the criminal case.\u00a0 In other words, the criminal case will go first.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The court definitely prefers this approach because it could save time.\u00a0 If, for example, the defendant is found guilty on the same set of facts in the criminal case, there is no need to re-litigate the same matter at a CPO\/ASO trial.\u00a0 The court can simply grant the protective order.<\/p>\n

The Petitioner prefers this approach.\u00a0 The Petitioner only needs to testify once \u2013 at the criminal trial. \u00a0And the Petitioner does not tip the Respondent off to the substance of the Petitioner\u2019s case during the CPO\/ASO trial \u2013 information that the Respondent would use to prepare for the criminal proceeding.<\/p>\n

But how the trailing the criminal matter benefit the Respondent or Defendant?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The most frequently used justification is that anything the Respondent testifies at the CPO trial can be used against him\/her at the criminal trial.<\/p>\n

This is wrong. \u00a0According to D.C. \u00a7 16-1002<\/a>:\u00a0 \u201cTestimony of the respondent in any civil proceedings . . . shall be inadmissible as evidence in a criminal trial . . . except in a prosecution for perjury or false statement.\u201d\u00a0 See also<\/em> D.C. Superior Court Rule of Domestic Violence Rule 12(a)(4).<\/p>\n

In any other words, the respondent can testify at CPO\/ASO hearing without fear that the same words can be used against that person during the criminal crime.<\/p>\n

And there are tremendous benefits to the respondent of having the CPO\/ASO case tried first.\u00a0 For one thing, you get a first shot at cross-examining the petitioner under oath.\u00a0 You have a preview of their criminal trial testimony.\u00a0 And the testimony is under oath and transcribed.\u00a0 The petitioner\/complainant\u2019s credibility can be impeached if the testimony deviates in even small ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Koehler Law has extensive experience dealing with precisely this situation.\u00a0 In one case, for example, we had extensive phone records and surveillance\/CCTV recordings that completely disproved the petitioner\u2019s version of events.\u00a0 We questioned her under oath at the CPO hearing, thereby locking in her perjured testimony, without using any of our evidence at the CPO hearing.\u00a0 We then ordered the CPO transcript and were then \u201clocked and loaded\u201d in preparation for the criminal trial in which our client was facing far more serious felony charges.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Domestic violence charges in criminal court are frequently accompanied by a petition for a civil protection order (CPO) or anti-stalking order (ASO). This is because one incident can lead to two separate cases \u2013 one criminal and the other civil.\u00a0 The target of misconduct allegations can be simultaneously the defendant in a criminal case and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":360941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[415,208139,14207,13504,17157,2130],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7045638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal","tag-case","tag-cpoaso","tag-criminal","tag-matter","tag-related","tag-trail"],"yoast_head":"\nShould a CPO\/ASO case "trail" a related criminal matter - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7045638\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should a CPO\/ASO case "trail" a related criminal matter - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Domestic violence charges in criminal court are frequently accompanied by a petition for a civil protection order (CPO) or anti-stalking order (ASO). 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