In Olympia, Thurston County District Court began a new program last week aimed at helping veterans who wind up in legal troubles. The new Veterans' Court focuses on providing vets who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury(TBI), and other problems associated with recovering from the trauma of war with the necessary treatment and support. The veterans in this court wind up with legal troubles, such as assault or domestic violence charges as well as DUI. Rather than merely punishing the behavior in the form of jail time, this program seeks to get defendants out of jail sooner and get them them hooked up with mental health and chemical dependency treatment. The court meets weekly and serves as both a support group for the vets as well as a way to monitor participants' progress. If participants re-offend or stop doing their treatment, Judge Buckley, the veteran court Judge who is a former JAG member and the son of a veteran, has the ability to impose sanction up to making the participants serve the remainder of their suspended sentences.
This program was spearheaded by members of Thurston County's Mental Health Court as well as local public defender Alex Frix, who is the son of a two star general. While growing up, Frix saw the impact that PTSD had on this father and other military members and families, and recognized the need for this specialized court during his representation of veterans charged with crimes in the county. Though veterans previously had the ability to enter mental health court, that court presented some problems for veterans. I previously represented a veteran charged various domestic violence crimes in Thurston County District Court who suffered from both PTSD and TBI. In that case, the prosecutor would not agree to allow my client entrance into mental health court, which is a requirement prior to the Judge allowing entry. The prosecutor felt that though my client suffered from mental health issues, mental health court was not appropriate as this prosecutor viewed veterans mental health problems as different than those defendants who typically wind up in mental health court. Beyond the hurdle of getting prosecutors to agree on mental health court, veterans too often often don't want to enter that court due to the stigma of suffering from mental health problems. Hopefully, now that Thurston County has a court tailored towards veteran specific mental heath issues, veterans can seek comfort in knowing that others who have gone through comparable combat situations have developed similar mental health problems.
