Q: I am charged with 2nd ag assault. I have a restraining order given to me in prison. The hearing date was 10/5.

A: Most likely yes. A TRO stays in effect unless it is dismissed or amended to an FRO.

A: Yes it should be still in effect, especially now with COVID everything is getting pushed back and I am sure if your in prison you have heard about people now waiting months for a court date.

A: You need to. retain an experienced criminal attorney for the municipal court matter..Then for the domestic violence matter you need to retain an experienced matrimonial attorney with e,tens I've domestic violence trial experience. Ideally you want to retain two attorneys who have experience working together on this type of case to get the best results possible given the facts and circumstances of your case and the existing law. You really need to act quickly to retain the right pair of attorneys. Don't be mislead into thinking that one attorney can handle both parts of your case. There is a substantial difference between criminal and matrimonial law. You only GRT one chance to do this right.

A: If I understand your question correctly, you were criminally charged with 2nd degree aggravated assault, and arising out of that same incident, a domestic violence temporary restraining order was entered against you, which domestic violence matter was scheduled to be heard by the family court judge on November 16th - while you were still in jail on the aggravated assault charge or on an unrelated criminal charge. I presume that the family part judge proceeded with the restraining order matter on November 16th, not knowing that you were in jail at that time and that arrangements were not made for you to participate in that proceeding. I presume that on November 16th, your ex asked the family part judge to grant her a permanent restraining order against you, and presumably, if the court did not know you were unavailable to participate, granted her request. If its your intent to contest the issuance of a final restraining order, you need to immediately contact the family part judge ( the superior court judge's information is listed on the temporary restraining order where it says when its returnable and before which judge). You need to provide the court with proof of your incarceration and ask that the matter be relisted so that you can appear and oppose her request for the issuance of the final restraining order if you have a proper legal basis to do so.