PROTECTED PERSON CANNOT BE CONVICTED AS AN ACCOMPLICE FOR VIOLATING A NO-CONTACT ORDER

In Indiana, a violation of a no-contact order issued as a condition of pretrial release
constitutes a misdemeanor offense of invasion of privacy. See Ind. Code 35-46-1-
15.1(5). A separate statute makes clear that an invitation by the protected person “does
not waive or nullify an order for protection.” Ind. Code 34-26-5-1. The Indiana Court of
Appeals recently decided for the first time that a protected person could not be charged
as an accomplice for invasion of privacy by inviting the respondent to make contact. See
Patterson v. State, 979 N.E.2d 1066 (Ind.Ct.App. 2012). Following an Ohio Supreme
Court case, the Court of Appeals concluded, “Protection orders are about the behavior
of the respondent and nothing else. How or why a respondent finds himself at the
petitioner’s doorstop is irrelevant. To find appellant guilty of complicity would be to
criminalize the irrelevancy.”