Re: 13 Year old v. MP in Iowa case.
According to court documents, the case was dismissed by the District Attorney due to not enough evidence at trial.
I have filed a petition "for relief from domestic violence" twice in Iowa and it was granted both times, without evidence.
Because these cases are civil cases (with possible future criminal charges), the respondent/defendant is given two options during the trial. The first option is to fight the restraining order. If they fight the restraining order and win, obviously there will be no restraining order. If they fight the restraining order and lose, they will be found guilty of domestic violence and charged in accordance with criminal law (meaning they will have more charges levied against them).
Their 2nd option is to agree to the restraining order. Agreeing to the restraining order is like entering a plea of no contest (they are neither admitting to the violence nor are they denying it). They will not be charged in criminal court if they consent but the restraining order will be granted.
I'm going to guess that MP chose to fight the restraining order and considering it was dismissed by the DA and not the judge, the DA was hoping that he would just consent to the restraining order...the evidence most likely was not available for whatever reason.
It is also possible that the phone belonged to the 13yo's mother and that they shared the phone. If MP never addressed anyone specifically in the messages, it would be hard to prove if they were being sent to the 13 yo or the mother.
All of the facts in this case are unknown, but I am not willing to blame the judge as the judge is not the one that dismissed the case, the county prosecutor was the one to dismiss the child's petition.
Sometimes, attorneys just take their chances and file a petition for relief from domestic violence with no evidence at all. Nine times out of the 10, the respondent is going to consent to the restraining order to avoid future prosecution.
According to court documents, the case was dismissed by the District Attorney due to not enough evidence at trial.
I have filed a petition "for relief from domestic violence" twice in Iowa and it was granted both times, without evidence.
Because these cases are civil cases (with possible future criminal charges), the respondent/defendant is given two options during the trial. The first option is to fight the restraining order. If they fight the restraining order and win, obviously there will be no restraining order. If they fight the restraining order and lose, they will be found guilty of domestic violence and charged in accordance with criminal law (meaning they will have more charges levied against them).
Their 2nd option is to agree to the restraining order. Agreeing to the restraining order is like entering a plea of no contest (they are neither admitting to the violence nor are they denying it). They will not be charged in criminal court if they consent but the restraining order will be granted.
I'm going to guess that MP chose to fight the restraining order and considering it was dismissed by the DA and not the judge, the DA was hoping that he would just consent to the restraining order...the evidence most likely was not available for whatever reason.
It is also possible that the phone belonged to the 13yo's mother and that they shared the phone. If MP never addressed anyone specifically in the messages, it would be hard to prove if they were being sent to the 13 yo or the mother.
All of the facts in this case are unknown, but I am not willing to blame the judge as the judge is not the one that dismissed the case, the county prosecutor was the one to dismiss the child's petition.
Sometimes, attorneys just take their chances and file a petition for relief from domestic violence with no evidence at all. Nine times out of the 10, the respondent is going to consent to the restraining order to avoid future prosecution.