Under the Minnesota Domestic Abuse Act, which states, to issue an order for protection one must be reasonably in “fear of imminent physical harm”, will the court consider whether Alexander Abington’s verbal threats, physical actions, and frequent texts direct messages and emails, sufficient to cause Rachel Wilson’s reasonable fear of imminent physical harm?
Brief Answer
Alexander Abington’s verbal threats, physical actions, and frequent texts direct messages and emails will be sufficient to establish that Rachel Wilson was in reasonable “fear of imminent physical harm” and therefore, Rachel Wilson will be granted the order of protection.
Statement of Facts
Rachel Wilson and Alexander Abington are residents of Anoka, Minnesota. In 2014, Rachel Wilson began a romantic relationship with Abington. In 2016, during the course of their relationship, Abington began to become violent and threatening towards Wilson stating that he “could smack her” as well as grabbing her harm and physically restraining Wilson from leaving. Abington‘s threatening behavior continued and in January 2017 Abington appeared very angry screamed profanity at Wilson. Subsequent to the termination of their relationship, which ended January 22, 2017, Abington continued to text, email, and direct message Wilson two to three times a week. These messages contained verbal
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The court will presumably find Rachel Wilson’s “fear of imminent physical harm” to be that of a reasonable person in the context of the “totality” of the evidence, including Abington’s prior physical and verbal threats as well as his more recent threats. The court will also likely, assert that Wilson’s fear is reasonable due to the frequency of Abington’s texts, direct messages, and emails. Thus, the evidence presented is sufficient to grant an order of protection, for it clearly establishes Wilson is reasonably in fear of imminent physical