California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Sigle, C065792, Super. Ct. No. 08F05949 (Cal. App. 2011):
Defendant contends and the People concede that the trial court erroneously imposed a no-contact order. The trial court ordered defendant not to have "any contact with the victim or the victim's family, either direct or indirect." The court stated that the order was "pursuant to law" but did not specify what law. Penal Code section 1202.05 requires a court to prohibit visitation between a defendant and a child victim if the defendant is sentenced to prison for violating a specified sex offense and the victim is under the age of 18 years. The statute does not apply to visitation with anyone other than the child victim. The court's order was not limited to visitation or to the victim, and the victim is now over the age of 18 years. Nor is the no-contact order authorized under Penal Code section 136.2, which is limited to protecting victims or witnesses while criminal proceedings are pending. (People v. Ponce (2009) 173 Cal.App.4th 378, 382-383.) The trial court issued an unauthorized no-contact order and we will modify the judgment, striking the order.
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