VETERANS TREATMENT COURT

What is Veteran’s Treatment Court?

The Cherokee County Veterans’ Treatment Court (CCVTC/VTC) substitutes a treatment problem-solving model for traditional court processing. Eligible veterans voluntarily participate in a judicially-supervised treatment plan developed for the veteran by a team of court staff, veteran health care professionals, veteran peer mentors, and health care professionals. At regular status hearings, treatment plans and other conditions are periodically reviewed for appropriateness, incentives are offered to reward adherence to court conditions, and sanctions for non-adherence are handed down.

Many veterans who are referred to VTC are homeless, helpless, in despair, suffering from alcohol or drug addiction, and others have serious mental illnesses.  Their lives have been spiraling out of control.  Through this program, veterans are offered the opportunity to regain stability in their lives, to strengthen their families, to address their housing needs, and to find employment (for the employable). 

Program Goals:

• To make substance abuse treatment, mental health care, and other resources more readily available to veterans within the communities they have served and protected.
• To integrate necessary treatment with the justice system in order to reduce recidivism, improve the veteran’s mental health and/or eliminate substance abuse, promote self-sufficiency, citizenship, and enhance public safety.
• To assist participating veterans in receiving aid from the Department of Veterans Affairs in conjunction with treatment provided by the program.

 How are cases referred to VTC?

• Cases may be referred to VTC on either a pre- or post-adjudication basis.
• Eligible defendant-veterans interested in the VTC must contact the Program Coordinator, Jenny Mehdikarimi, to schedule a time to interview for the program and fill out the necessary paperwork. Ms. Mehdikarimi’s office is located on the third floor of the Justice Center in Suite 370.
• Staffing is held every other Monday at 2:30 PM, and Veterans Court is held immediately after staffing.
• When an Assistant Solicitor-General learns of a defendant-veteran’s interest in VTC, he or she should contact Marsha Terry, the Assistant Solicitor-General handling VTC, and let her know to expect a new potential participant.
• Once a defendant-veteran has been accepted into VTC, his or her case is transferred from the originally assigned Judge to the VTC Judge (Judge Morris), and responsibility for managing the case shifts to VTC Assistant Solicitor-General Marsha Terry.
• If a participant is removed from the program for failure to comply, the VTC judge and Marsha handle sentencing and adjudication (if the defendant-veteran entered the program on a pre-adjudication basis). Negotiations or offers made prior to entering VTC become void upon entry into VTC.

 What should I do if I have questions about VTC?

All questions regarding VTC should be directed to Assistant Solicitor-General Emily Johnson.  Her email address is [email protected].