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Mahoning County Common Pleas Court unveils new docket
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: December 22, 2016
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2011 through 2012, an estimated 8 percent of all inmates in state and federal prison and local jails previously served in the U.S. military. Approximately 131,500 veterans were incarcerated in prisons and 50,000 were in jail.
To help reduce the number of former military personnel behind bars, many places now have veterans treatment courts. These courts focus on addressing an individual’s underlying problems like mental illness and/or substance abuse, which could have led to the criminal behavior.
On Nov. 29 the Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas officially unveiled its honor court, which serves veterans charged with low-level, nonviolent felonies.
The court, which received its initial certification from the Ohio Supreme Court on Nov. 8, is currently assisting its first veteran.
It’s the 21st veterans treatment court in the state and the second such endeavor in Mahoning County. Less than half the state’s treatment courts handle felony-level offenses as the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court was created to do.
Judge Shirley Christian said she came up with the idea for the court shortly after she took the bench in October 2014 to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge James C. Evans.
“I had a conversation with Judge Robert Milich, who started a veterans treatment court in Youngtown,” said Judge Christian.
“By the spring of 2015, we already created an advisory committee to help us put together our own docket here. It was made up of treatment personnel, law enforcement, prosecutors and defense counsel.
“The committee had to decide which veterans to take and make sure we followed all of the Supreme Court’s strict guidelines,” Judge Christian said.
Youngstown Municipal Court Judge Robert Milich began a misdemeanor veterans docket in 2011, patterning it after the one in Buffalo, New York.
“In 2008, Buffalo was the first place in the country to start a veterans court,” he said. “After I heard about it 10 of us from my court went to Buffalo for a week to study what they had done.
“We were the second court in Ohio to start an honor court,” said Judge Milich. “Mansfield was the first. I invited Judge Christian to sit in on one of our sessions. She saw the need for a treatment court at the common pleas level.”
Judge Milich said he would continue to make himself available to Judge Christian’s replacement, Anthony D’Apolito, who takes the bench at the beginning of 2017.
Judge Christian said she expects the honor court to receive its final certification by the end of the year.
The court accepts veterans who have been honorably discharged and are diagnosed with substance abuse, mental health problems, posttraumatic stress disorder and/or traumatic brain injury.
To qualify the veteran must be charged with a third, fourth or fifth degree nonviolent felony such as drug possession, vandalism, forgery or theft.
The sheriff’s office, defense attorneys, prosecutors, municipal and county courts, probation officers, case managers, police officers, family members and treatment personnel can all refer veterans.
“To be accepted the veteran must plead guilty to the charges,” said Judge Christian. “If they don’t successfully complete the program, the charges will not be dismissed and they could be sentenced.”
The program runs for a minimum of one year and a maximum of two years.
A 14-person treatment team made up of counselors, law enforcement, healthcare professionals and local, state and federal veterans service providers determines how best to address the individual’s problems so that he/she can again become a productive citizen.
Depending on the person’s progress he/she will be required to come before the team weekly or twice a month.
“The way it will work is that the treatment team meets on Tuesday afternoons,” said Judge Christian. “Every veteran admitted to the program will report together. That way everyone can see how positive behavior is reinforced as well as any punishment for negative behavior.”
There are four phases to the program; each one requires community service, compliance with medications, medical visits and treatment. In addition, the veteran must obtain a GED if he/she does not have a high school diploma as well as secure a job or disability benefits.
The person must also choose a final project that will have a positive impact on veterans in the community.
“It could be restoring a cemetery where veterans are buried for example,” said Judge Christian. “Basically the idea is to divert the person away from the standard criminal justice system and provide the support they need to get their lives back on track while still holding them accountable for their mistakes.”
She said the treatment court is structured similar to a military unit, with each participant being assigned a veteran mentor to serve as a “battle buddy.”
Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas Honor Court Coordinator and Mentor Coordinator Derick Young said the job of the mentor is to address any problems or concerns that the participant has between court dates.
“We want to keep the participant in a veteran atmosphere,” said Young, an Iraqi war veteran who is also on the treatment team. “One of the key components to the program is integrity, which is a value they learned from service.”
Young said mentors understand the challenges facing participants in a way that civilians cannot.
“Returning home can be bittersweet,” said Young, who was medically retired from the Marine Corps after being wounded. “A veteran may be treated like a hero the first week or so, but once life begins to return to normal some veterans have a hard time coping with what they’ve experienced because they don’t have appropriate distractions.
“They might self-medicate or commit a crime to help them to cope with their new reality.”
Young has recruited about a half dozen veterans to serve as mentors, including Brian Kennedy, executive director of the nonprofit Turning Point Counseling Services Inc.
“As a mentor my job is to treat the veteran with dignity and respect much like the way he/she was treated in the military,” said Kennedy, who served on the committee that led to the docket’s creation. “The program supports addressing the co-occurrence of mental health and substance abuse disorders or either condition and its relationship to the crime or crimes committed.
“Its framework is a direct reflection of what leadership is like in the Marine Corps.
“As a mentor I am serving as a leader and I have an expectation that the veteran will follow me and do what I tell him,” said Kennedy, an Iraqi war veteran who spent 25 years in the Marine Corps. “I expect the person assigned to me to stay off drugs and let me know if he/she will miss an appointment or about any other problems encountered.
“This is my way of giving back to those individuals who had my back all those years ago.”
More mentors will be needed in the future. Anyone interested should contact Mentor Coordinator Derick Young at dayoung01@ysu.edu or 330 831 0733.