Queens court offers veterans second chance

For the first time in years, Arnaldo Sarmiento says he can breathe freely.

"I feel like I just woke up, and it actually feels good," said the Navy veteran, 37, as he looked out onto the sunny day from the State Supreme Courthouse in Queens on Monday.

The courthouse -- once a symbol of his 2010 incarceration -- had become an opportunity for a brighter future.

Sarmiento was headed to prison because he'd assaulted two police officers. Drunk and stumbling along a sidewalk in Corona, Queens, at 2 a.m., Sarmiento broke a police officer's nose when grabbed by the arm.

"I didn't mean to hurt those police officers. I was not comfortable with what I did. I know what I did was seriously wrong," Sarmiento said. He was homeless after he'd lost his job at JetBlue in 2008 when the economy tanked. He also couldn't pay his college tuition, he said.

"Drinking heavily almost every day and getting into trouble," Sarmiento said he had given up on himself. "When I was in that cell I thought to myself, this is it -- my life will be spent in prison."

Instead, Sarmiento was recommended for Queens Veterans Court, where veterans are offered drug and alcohol counseling, post-traumatic stress disorder treatment, housing, and job training rather than prison time.

Veterans must plead guilty to the charges against them, not get arrested, stay sober, and progress in their job training program. They also must meet monthly with Judge Marcia Hirsch, who gets reports from court officers who monitor the veterans.

At Monday's ceremony, Sarmiento was one of five veterans who were the first to complete the program, which started in December 2010.

Suffolk and Nassau both got veterans courts last year.

Queens' 15-month program makes veterans eligible for either probation, dismissed or sealed convictions, or a conditional discharge depending on the individual's prior record and case, said Maritza Karagiorgos, acting project director.

Sarmiento, whose arrest will be dismissed and sealed, said the program made him realize "people did care and that I deserved a second chance; and that something good can happen to me."

"Now, I can go after my dream," which is to finish college and get a job building jet engines for Boeing or Airbus, he said.

"Seeing this transformation of people's lives is remarkable," said Judge Hirsch. "They come in feeling angry, discouraged, disconnected from their families. They leave reconnected, wanting to lead meaningful lives that have a purpose."

Kafus Todd, 65, a Vietnam veteran from the Bronx, said: "I couldn't get Judge Hirsch mad at me. She was always calm, considerate and did everything she could to help me. It made me realize I was worth saving."

Todd was facing prison after he beat a man while under the influence of alcohol and drugs. He said the man he beat "had to get a lot of stitches and had to be hospitalized." Todd sat in Rikers Island for two months in 2010.

Jail time was no stranger to Todd. Since his return from Vietnam in the early 1970s, he had done 14 years over the decades for using illegal drugs, assault and manslaughter.

Todd is in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. "Right now, I am pacing myself," he said, adding his dream is "to be of service and help someone else."

The Queens Veterans Court, said Judge Hirsch, "is an effort to reach out to veterans who have served this country."