4 months in jail for court violation

A 35-year-old Gardnerville woman was sentenced Wednesday to 120 days in Douglas County Jail after she admitted violating several court orders to stay away from a married man with whom she has had two children.

East Fork Justice Jim EnEarl ordered Frances Holden to serve four months in jail at which time she will be off probation.

"At the conclusion of 120 days, all sentences will be discharged and there will be no more probation or time hanging over her head," EnEarl said.

Holden faced up to a year in jail.

Her lawyers, Tod Young and Derrick Lopez, argued that jail time would jeopardize Holden's efforts to reunite with her two children.

District Judge Dave Gamble has suspended Holden's visitation rights, according to court reports.

She was arrested Dec. 20 at a Gardnerville casino in the company of the man whose wife sought the protection order.

"There was no intended violation," said Lopez. "She was at the casino and he was there, too. He approached her. She knows even though she was there first, she should have left."

Lopez argued that Holden may have been set up by the caller who turned Holden in to the sheriff's office.

"Her intention is to never have anything to do with him again," Lopez said.

Lopez said if Holden loses her residence it could result in termination of her parental rights.

Prosecutor Erik Levin said Holden deserved punishment as well as enforcement of the court order.

She has had several violations of the protection order resulting in "collateral consequences she's brought on herself," Levin said.

EnEarl said the violations had escalated in violence from discharging a firearm at windows and a television set to ramming the suspect's vehicle.