Paragraph: (Society_Law_and_Justice/oanc-Domestic_Violence_Ruling-0.txt)
Sent 1: The violent arena of domestic abuse litigation has grown a bit more volatile here, now that a judge has decided to hold two women in contempt of court for returning to men who had been ordered to stay away from them.
Sent 2: "You can't have it both ways," said Judge Megan Lake Thornton of Fayette County District Court in recently fining two women $100 and $200 respectively for obtaining protective orders forbidding their partners from contacting them, then relenting and contacting the men.
Sent 3: Ruling that the order was mutually binding, Judge Thornton also cited the men for contempt.
Sent 4: "It drives me nuts when people just decide to do whatever they want," said Judge Thornton, who is experienced in the state's thick domestic abuse docket, which produces close to 30,000 emergency protective orders a year.
Sent 5: Kentucky officials say there is a virtual epidemic of abusive relationships in the state.
Sent 6: Judge Thornton's ruling has alarmed advocates for battered women, who plan to appeal it.
Sent 7: The advocates say the finding goes beyond existing law and is unrealistic because some renewed contacts often prove unavoidable in domestic abuse cases, which involve economic and family dependency and other complications of daily living.
Sent 8: The state office on domestic violence has pointedly agreed, warning that the ruling could cause abused women to hesitate in bringing their plight before the courts for fear of being chastised for their trouble.
Sent 9: "The reality is it's easy to say they should never have contact," said Sherry Currens, executive director of the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association, an advocacy and legal protection group.
Sent 10: "But we're talking about people in long-term relationships.
Sent 11: They may have children in common.
Sent 12: It's pretty hard to say, `Never speak again.'
Sent 13: People have financial difficulties.
Sent 14: They may love the partner.
Sent 15: It's not an easy thing."
Sent 16: But Judge Thornton declared in court, "When these orders are entered, you don't just do whatever you damn well please and ignore them."
Sent 17: The ruling stunned Cindra Walker, the lawyer for the two women, who is with Central Kentucky Legal Services, which represents many of the thousands of indigent women caught in abusive relationships.
Sent 18: "For over five years, I've been in court practically every day on these abuse cases," Ms. Walker said, "and I've never before had a victim threatened with contempt."