Court for veterans to bar drunken drivers

Nassau prosecutors working to open a specialized courtroom for military veterans next month are doing so on one condition: At least at first, they will not allow accused drunken drivers to participate.

Representatives for Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice say it's just too risky to enroll them in the court unless or until the public's safety can be ensured.

The idea behind the court is to identify veterans whose crimes -- usually nonviolent -- are related to mental health or substance abuse issues they developed as a result of their service, said Judge Judy Harris Kluger, chief of policy and planning for the New York State Unified Court System, which oversees the state's specialty courts.

Veterans who are found to be eligible for the court would be given the chance to plead guilty and get treatment for the underlying causes of their problem rather than go to jail.

Those who successfully complete treatment would have the charge removed from their records, prosecutors and court officials said.

The court is expected to open in early November, around Veteran's Day, and will be the state's eighth such court. Queens and Suffolk opened their courts in February.

Rice's office said before allowing DWIs in the court it would want safeguards in place to protect the public -- such as requiring the use of ignition interlock devices that force people to blow into a breath test to prove they're sober before they can start their cars and bracelets that detect alcohol in a person's skin and notify authorities.

Because prosecutors will have to agree to any deals that would allow defendants to plead to a lesser charge, Rice has the final word.

"The number one responsibility of the district attorney is to protect the public," said Albert Teichman, executive assistant to Rice, and her representative on the committee planning the court. "At the end of the day it doesn't help anyone for us to be lenient."

Joseph LoPiccolo, head of the Nassau Criminal Courts Bar Association and a member of the 15-person committee, said prosecutors are missing the point: Veterans who get treatment are less likely to drive drunk again than those who go to jail, and that in itself protects the public.

What's more, he said, making the bracelets and ignition interlock devices a condition to include drunken driving cases in the court effectively punishes vets more severely than civilians.

That's because normally such devices are ordered by judges, not prosecutors, and only in the most serious cases, LoPiccolo said.

"No one is condoning drunk driving," LoPiccolo said. "The idea is to provide treatment to prevent it from happening again."

In some other state veterans courts, defendants are connected with volunteers, veterans acting as mentors who assist them in getting services, from help with employment to housing, said Judge Robert Russell, who started the first veterans' court in Erie County in 2009.

Russell said most of the courts consider all types of crimes, including drunken driving, on a case-by-case basis.

"Drunken driving is where someone may be self-medicating because of a mental health disorder," Russell said. "But you have to balance that out, addressing the needs of the man or woman who served his country in our military against the needs of your community."

A spokeswoman for the Suffolk courts said cases there are considered individually. Only violent crimes and those involving habitual offenders are not considered, she said.

Charles Rose, a professor at Stetson Law School in Gulfport, Fla., who prosecuted and defended cases for 22 years as an Army lawyer in the Judge Advocate General Corps, said ideally, each case in a veterans court should be considered on its own merits.

Of veterans accused of drunken driving crimes he said, "I think they would benefit greatly," from the services offered by such courts.

Teichman said despite the controversy he is optimistic that some middle ground can be found.

"We're hoping there may be a way to help the veterans, and still keep the community safe," Teichman said.