The Hope Card Program and Florida Domestic Violence Cases

Florida enacted several new laws in 2024, with the goal of preventing domestic violence, and specifically, with the goal of preventing violence-plagued relationships from escalating to the point of serious injury or death.  These new laws require additional procedures by the courts and by law enforcement when police respond to domestic violence calls or when someone files for a restraining order against a family member or former romantic partner because of domestic violence.  In other words, there is a lot more to preventing and de-escalating domestic violence than just handing out criminal penalties. The criminal law aspect is one area where the new laws do not interfere.  The legal definition of domestic violence is the same as it has been for years.  This year’s new laws do not define any new domestic violence-related crimes, like what happened in the recent past when legislators amended laws about stalking and harassment so that they directly referred to threatening or intimidating online communications.  Your right to due process remains the same in a domestic violence case, even though there is more state involvement now in the stages before you receive criminal charges, if you ever do at all.  Here, our Miami domestic violence defense lawyer explains the new procedures for police response to domestic violence allegations, and how these may or may not affect you in criminal court.

What Happens If Your Name Is on the Wrong Side of a Hope Card?

One of this year’s new domestic violence laws is SB 86, the result of a bipartisan effort led by state senators from Davie and Tampa.  Pursuant to SB 86, Florida’s Hope Card program begins this month, so that Florida will join several other states that have already implemented Hope Card programs.  A Hope Card is a court-issued card the size of a driver’s license; bearers of Hope Cards can keep them in their wallets.  If you don’t have your Hope Card with you, police can find an electronic version of it in a database when they respond to a domestic violence call.

A Hope Card is a card-sized summary of a domestic violence-related restraining order.  It shows the name and address of the petitioner, the person who filed for the restraining order, as well as the name of the respondent, the person that the petitioner accused of domestic violence.  Before the Hope Card program went into effect, the only way that domestic violence accusers could prove to police that they had already filed for a restraining order against a family member or ex was to show the police a copy of the court order, which is usually at least nine pages long, too unwieldy to carry with you everywhere you go.

The idea behind Hope Cards is that police will know immediately if the parties involved in the current call have a history of domestic violence.  There is no danger that they will mistake it for an isolated incident.  If your name is listed as a respondent on a Hope Card it does not mean that you are guilty of domestic violence in connection to the current incident or a previous one.  It only proves that someone once requested a restraining order against you.

A Domestic Violence Risk Assessment Is Just a Police Officer’s Opinion

Also new this year is the Gabby Petito Act, which requires police to document more details about their assessment of the relationship between the people involved in a domestic violence call.  The law is named after Gabby Petito, a Florida woman who embarked on an extended “van life” road trip with her fiancé Brian Laundrie.  Laundrie murdered Petito in Wyoming, later confessing to her killing in a suicide note.  Several days earlier, police in Utah had responded to a call about a dispute between Petito and Laundrie, but they took virtually no action, wrongly assuming that it was nothing serious.

Now, when police respond to a domestic violence call, they must complete more paperwork about their observations about the potential for future violence.  A police officer’s perception of the potential for violence is nowhere near enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed a particular act of domestic violence.  You still have a chance to argue that the officer’s interpretation is incorrect or that it is insufficient to link you to the crime.

Contact Our Criminal Defense Attorneys

A South Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing criminal charges after a domestic violence call.  Contact Ratzan & Faccidomo in Miami, Florida for a confidential consultation about your case.

Source:

floridapolitics.com/archives/698098-action-speeding-hope-card-program-for-domestic-violence-survivors-to-begin-rollout/