Docket Aims to Help Veterans Involved in the Criminal Justice System

In 2019, the Virginia Supreme Court authorized court systems to create veterans’ treatment dockets to help veterans who become involved with the criminal justice system.   

“It’s a problem-solving docket designed to address veterans’ issues that may cause a veteran to become justice-involved,” said Prince William County Criminal Justice Services Senior Probation-Pretrial Officer Christopher Mayers. “It is here to be a high-risk, high-needs docket that can utilize the Veterans Administration and the Department of Veterans Services to create outcomes that are favorable to the client.”  

According to the U.S. Census, there are approximately 43,000 veterans living in Prince William County. At any time, said Mayers, there are about 300 veterans involved in some stage of the criminal justice system. Most of those veterans in the system are eligible to participate in the docket.   

“We have a lot of veterans in Prince William County, and some of those veterans become justice-involved,” said Prince William County General District Court Judge William E. Jarvis, who recently presided over a graduation ceremony for two veterans who completed the docket’s requirements.

“Often, those folks who come to us are justice-involved for no other reason than they are still walking around feeling the effects of their service to our country. It feels right to have this sort of docket to give those folks the opportunity to avail themselves of services, so they can get right and continue to be contributing members of our community.”  

The docket team includes representatives from the Prince William Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, public defenders, probation officers, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Veterans Justice Outreach Program and the Virginia Department of Veterans Services. 

“It’s a minimum one-year program, and it is intensive. The veterans in the program have to meet with local probation officers frequently. They have to do drug screening. They have to receive service. If it looks like they’re in the program and not being receptive to services, that’s a problem. That’s something we would end up addressing,” Jarvis said.  

The docket is designed to help veterans succeed by connecting them with services.   

“It allows someone to see success every time they come in,” Mayers said. “At the same time, it lets us detect when success is not there so that we can apply a treatment-oriented path. We utilize plans within probation. Case plans and success plans are developed in correlation with the treatment providers. The result is that the veteran sees their goals, which are treatment-related. Those goals are benchmarks for them.”  

Everyone on the team helps monitor the veterans’ progress through the docket, which connects veterans with local, state and federal resources for treatment, housing, therapy, employment, discharge status and help with their disability claims. 

Timothy Laliberty was arrested in August 2021 and charged with repeat driving under the influence, a felony charge that carries a maximum of five years in the state penitentiary. Laliberty told the audience in Jarvis’ courtroom how he started drinking at about 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 7. Later that night, he decided to drive and got pulled over by a Virginia state trooper who happened to be his neighbor. Laliberty, a U.S. Navy veteran, failed the field sobriety test and refused a breathalyzer test.  

‘I’ll never forget that moment because when I was sitting in the back of the police car, I said, ‘I’m not a criminal. I don’t need to be arrested. I just need help,’” said Laliberty, who indicated that he knew all along that he was an alcoholic. The trooper helped connect Laliberty with the docket.  

“This was a blessing in disguise,” Laliberty said. “I needed help, and I got help. This was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me, as weird as that sounds. I got my health back. I may not be where I want to be in life just yet, but I can tell you that I’m no longer at rock bottom.”  

Laliberty said he felt he accomplished more in the 18 months he was on the docket than in the last 10 years.  

“One thing I’d like to pass on to other members in this program, or anybody in general, is not to give up. Stay hungry. Stay motivated. Do not get complacent. It’s easy to get complacent and go through the motions,” Laliberty said. “Keep going. The best is yet to come.”  

Upon his graduation, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office reduced Laliberty’s charges to a misdemeanor reckless driving.  

Berton Gartrell, another program graduate who got three driving under the influence charges in 2020, also faced a maximum of five years in jail on felony charges.  

While on the docket, Gartrell needed to move to West Virginia for a better support system and easier access to a Veterans Administration clinic. The move added time to Gartrell’s time on the docket, but Jarvis authorized the move.   

“The whole reason I went out there is because I was homeless here. I didn’t have any money. My life was a wreck,” said Gartrell, whose charges were reduced to a reckless driving misdemeanor charge after he graduated from the program. “I’ve got a good support system now, and I’m going to keep going.”  

Jessica McDonald, a former U.S. Army military police officer and graduate of the Fairfax County Veterans’ Docket, gave words of encouragement to Laliberty and Gartrell.  

“Be grateful for this program, your mentors, the team, the judges and the law officers,” McDonald said. “I am grateful for what this program has done for me and continues to do. It helped me reach my new life. My old life had so much trauma.” 

McDonald likened recovery to climbing a mountain.  

“You can have a better life. You will continue to struggle. In recovery, we fall, but the docket is here to lend a hand. You don’t have to do it alone,” McDonald said. “Everyone at this graduation is making an effort and has grabbed the helping hand extended by the docket. You’ve climbed out of hell, and the pages are blank. You have complete control.”  

The veterans’ docket includes mentors who help veterans through the criminal justice system as they complete the docket.  

Mel Mellinger, the Veterans Treatment Docket-Mentor Coordinator involved in the docket from the beginning, helped Gartrell and Laliberty through the program, which he said is an effective way to help at-risk veterans.  

“My view is that this is probably the best intervention program to interrupt the cycle of events that usually lead to veteran suicide,” said Mellinger, a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel with five combat deployments. “The number of veterans who have committed suicide is eye-watering. Whatever we can do as a society to intervene for those who have sacrificed and offered themselves up to our nation’s military, we should do it in every way possible.”  

Veterans who are facing charges in Prince William County General District Court and Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court and wish to join the docket can call Mayers at 571-383-1209 or fill out a referral form. Veterans must volunteer to enter the docket.  

For more information about the Veterans Docket visit: https://forms.office.com/g/hsbXwbHTyN. To join the Veteran Mentor Team, go to the volunteer job posting on the county’s website.