Today, Wilkinson Stekloff is proud to announce its first pro bono trial win by Norman Pentelovitch and Hal Brewster, who successfully represented a woman seeking a civil protection order from an abusive former boyfriend.
During the trial, Hal made an opening statement and conducted the direct of our client. The woman bravely faced a cross-examination by her abuser, who represented himself pro se. Norman cross-examined the former boyfriend after he testified, and presented the closing argument.
The judge ruled from the bench, finding the former boyfriend’s prior behavior and in-court testimony to be abusive and controlling. She found our client’s testimony credible, and that documentary evidence proved the former boyfriend had committed an “intrafamily offense.” The resulting civil protection order requires the former boyfriend to stay 100 yards away from our client at all times, and to not harass, threaten or stalk her. At our client’s request, the court also ordered that the former boyfriend receive domestic violence counseling.