New veterans court up and running in Dane County

Joining a growing list of cities and counties across the U.S., Dane County now offers a specialty court for troubled military veterans, to intervene before they hit a spiral of lifelong alcoholism, drug abuse and prison.

by Arnaldo Rodgers

Other specialty courts in Dane County treat people with drug and alcohol problems, which vets can also face. But serving in combat can add to the mix post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, said Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan, who quietly launched the Dane County Veterans Court over the summer.

“We’re looking for people whose criminal problem flows from a treatable condition,” said Flanagan, a Navy vet who served as a combat engineer in Vietnam. “It’s to find people who should be getting treatment but aren’t.”

Dane County vets have been able to join the Rock County Veterans Treatment Court since that court began in 2009. But transportation to the court in Janesville proved to be an obstacle for some, especially those who don’t have reliable transportation or whose conditions make them unable to reliably plan.

Dane County joins an estimated 220 jurisdictions across the U.S. offering a treatment court specifically for veterans, said Christopher Deutsch, spokesman for Justice for Vets, a division of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, which advocates for treatment courts across the U.S.

Figures about the success rate of vets courts across the U.S. haven’t been compiled, Deutsch said, “but anecdotally, we know that these are incredibly successful.”

In Buffalo, New York, for example, where the first veterans court opened in 2008, 98 percent of those who have completed the program have never been re-arrested, and that isn’t unusual among jurisdictions that offer such courts, Deutsch said.

“What we’re saying is if these folks who volunteered to serve didn’t have these issues before, but came back damaged,” Deutsch said, “then it’s our responsibility to see that they’re treated and can get their lives back on track.”

Vets courts operate differently in different areas. In Dane County, Flanagan said, vets can take part either before or after they are convicted of a crime. Most of those crimes involve traffic offenses such as drunken driving, or misdemeanors or low-level felonies. Participants agree to follow all of the rules imposed upon them and meet treatment goals, and to be in the program for at least a year.

Participants come to court every two weeks or once a month, depending on how they’re doing, for a review of their treatment progress.

Before they are accepted into the program, they are screened for a treatable condition. A team that includes Assistant District Attorney Joshua Bowland, Assistant Public Defender David Klauser, county veterans service coordinator Dan Connery and others then votes on whether to accept the applicant. Most members of the team have military service in their backgrounds.

Once participants have fulfilled their contract, Flanagan said, the charges against them can be either dismissed or reduced.

So far, Flanagan said, 35 people have applied for acceptance into Dane County’s vets court, and three have been admitted. Four others are ready to be admitted, while the others are being evaluated.

The court requires no extra funding, because treatment is provided by the Veterans Administration, through benefits that vets are entitled to receive.

Vets accepted into the court are also connected with mentors — other veterans they can turn to any time for advice and support.

“We keep the relationship confidential, unless (the client) wants us to bring things up for the judge,” said Denise Davidson, an Army veteran of Operation Desert Storm in Iraq who has been mentor coordinator for the Rock County vets court for about three years.

“I think it works well,” said Davidson, who is a client services specialist for the state Public Defenders Office in Rock County. “We’re a big part of what makes the program work. They feel comfortable talking to us because we understand what they’ve been through.”

In assembling the Dane County program, Flanagan visited vets groups at local colleges looking for volunteer mentors and has more than 10 ready to step up.

One of them is retired state Department of Transportation lawyer Joe Maassen, like Flanagan a Navy veteran of Vietnam. He and Flanagan both volunteered at Vets House in Madison after their service in Vietnam.

“We saw a lot of guys who were in prison who had gotten crosswise with the law and with the criminal justice system,” Maassen said, “and the system didn’t do much to help them.”

Although today’s veterans enjoy a greater degree of public respect, he said, the criminal justice system still doesn’t understand their unique problems.

“It’s way too easy to do the most expedient thing and lock them away instead of giving them individual help,” Maassen said.

Maassen said mentors are “guides” who share a common language with fellow vets, but are “not meant to be a friend, buddy, pal thing, but will be a pair of eyes and ears out there trying to understand what your difficulties are in your life.”

Former Middleton Mayor Doug Zwank, a Marine veteran who is commander of VFW Post 8216 in Middleton, said what got him involved was the case of Eric Pizer, an Iraq War veteran who was convicted of a felony after getting involved in a fight shortly after his return home from combat. The conviction bars him from his dream of becoming a police officer. He has been denied a pardon by Gov. Scott Walker.

Zwank said Pizer should have gotten a second chance, as should other veterans who return from war. Veterans court can do that for them, he said.

Rock County Circuit Judge James Daley, a Vietnam-era Marine who started Rock County’s vets court, said that 43 veterans have been accepted into the court since it started. Twenty-two have graduated, while eight have left the program involuntarily. Twelve are still in it.

“It’s doing well,” Daley said. “We are very pleased to see the Dane County court up and running.”

Of the 43, 15 were from Dane County, said Ed Zapala, veteran justice outreach coordinator for the Veterans Administration in Madison. Four of them failed to complete the program, while five were successful. The other six are still in it.

Zapala evaluates applicants for vets courts in Rock and Dane counties and Rockford, Illinois, to determine whether they have treatment needs that can be met by the VA. Most of the time, he said, veterans are aware of the treatment benefits available to them through the VA, “but the connection may be tenuous. That court involvement can help them increase their involvement.”

Without the court, Zapala said, it’s more likely that treatment won’t be completed. Motivation can “wax and wane,” he said, and unstable housing and substance abuse can also derail treatment. Arrests, he said, can be a “critical intervention point.”

Vets courts may become more even more important in the near future, Zapala said. Research suggests that it can take as long as 10 years for a veteran to become ensnared in the criminal justice system as combat-related problems emerge, he said.

“We may not have seen the wave yet,” Zapala said.