No Contact Orders Must Contain a Termination Date

Today, the SCOID released its opinion in State v. Cobler. Procedurally, the case came before the Court on the State's petition for review following the Court of Appeals' decision released last year. http://www.isc.idaho.gov/opinions/coblerSUB34308.pdf. (See SCOID blog from last December http://scoidblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/court-of-appeals-decided-state-v.html) The Court of Appeals previously held that the no contact order which prohibited Cobler from having any contact with all minors, violated his fundamental right to parent his children.

On review, Cobler raised multiple challenges to the no contact order. The Supreme Court, however, only addressed whether the trial court's denial of his motion to modify the order was an abuse of discretion. Importantly, the order originally issued by the magistrate judge noted it would terminate "upon dismissal of the case."

After pleading guilty and having been sentenced by the trial court, Mr. Cobler filed a motion to modify the no contact order. The order issued by the trial court vaguely stated that the motion was denied, but failed to recite the grounds upon which the district court denied the motions other than the observation that the order was to remain in effect until dismissal of the case. Given the procedural posture of the case at that point, the Supreme Court noted "the no contact order would, unless modified, have perpetual existence." Accordingly, the Court held that "the district court abused its discretion in basing the denial of the order on the apparent ground that the order was to remain in effect until the dismissal of the case."

The court also addressed Mr. Cobler's challenge to the trial court's denial of his Rule 35 motion. In support, he submitted new evidence in the form of honest remorse and good behavior while in prison. In its brief denial of Mr. Cobler's challenge, the Court noted "prison behavior is not the type of new or additional information that will support a Rule 35 motion, as it could not serve as an underlying basis for Cobler’s sentence."

The opinion can be found at: http://www.isc.idaho.gov/opinions/Cobler%20Opinion.pdf