Case Could Weaken Restraining Orders. A case currently wending its way through the Massachusetts court system challenges the restrictiveness of restraining orders, broadly used to protect victims of domestic violence.Charges have been dismissed against a man who was arrested twice for violating his restraining order by being at the same public event as his victim in their small town; the judge ruled that the prosecutors had not met the burden of proving his proximity had criminal intent. Advocates for battered women fear enforcement of restraining orders will be relaxed; others feel defendants’ rights need to be upheld in these cases. Boston Globe