Commonwealth v. Raymond

The defendant was convicted by a jury of violating an abuse prevention order issued under G. L. c. 209A that contained, among other things, a provision that he have “no contact” with his ex-wife, Veronica. He alleges that there was prejudicial error because the judge failed to instruct the jury regarding the “voluntariness” of his actions. We hold that, given the evidence presented, the judge should have instructed that the defendant could not be convicted for an inadvertent violation of the. order. Accordingly, we reverse the conviction and remand the case to the District Court.

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