Fourth Department – Family offense: Ohler v. Bartkovich

New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department

Family offense

Harassment

Ohler v. Bartkovich

CAF 22-01105

Appealed from Family Court, Monroe County

Background: The respondent appealed from an order of protection issued against him, arguing that the petitioner failed to prove the he committed a family offense.

Ruling: The Appellate Division affirmed. The court held that the court properly determined that the respondent committed the family offense of harassment. It noted that the parties had dated for more than a decade and that, after the petitioner terminated the relationship, the respondent continued to contact her prompting two orders of protection. After years of not seeing each other, the respondent then went to the petitioner’s house uninvited. When the petitioner advised she did not want to talk to the respondent he refused to leave until she called the police. Six weeks later, he again went to the petitioner’s house uninvited and entered her garage where she was standing. The police arrived shortly thereafter and took him into custody, charging him with trespass.

Jane I. Yoon, of the public defender’s office, for the respondent-appellant; Kathleen P. Reardon, of the conflict defender’s office, for the petitioner-respondent.