DULUTH — Five years ago, Michelle Pike spent her birthday in jail.
She had been through a rough few years after losing her husband to a head-on crash with a semitractor-trailer in 2016. She struggled with methamphetamine, failed a treatment program, was convicted of impaired driving, and faced a handful of felony drug charges by early 2019.
“I was going down the rabbit hole,” Pike said.
That’s when she decided to take advantage of a program she learned about at the Veterans Affairs clinic in the Twin Cities. Pike placed a few calls, and soon, a team from the South St. Louis County Veterans Treatment Court came to visit her in jail.
She ended up spending eight months in treatment at Duluth Bethel and has been sober since. She’s found gainful employment as an ironworker, and she’s rekindled once-strained relationships with her family.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I actually know my nieces and nephew now,” she said. “Before this program, I didn’t even know who they were.”
Pike is one of 29 area residents who have graduated from the Duluth-based veterans court. She shared her story Monday as officials and alumni gathered at the St. Louis County Courthouse to celebrate the initiative’s 10-year anniversary.
“I can say without reservation that this has been some of the most challenging, but also the most rewarding, work of my own career,” said Judge Dale Harris, who has presided over the program since its inception. “The highs are higher and the lows are lower, because we are all invested in our veterans as people.”
The veterans court is a voluntary program for those with military service who enter the criminal justice system. It takes an estimated 15-18 months to complete, as participants are guided by a multidisciplinary team led by the judge.
Many clients are struggling with substance-use disorders and other mental health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder. The team aims to provide them with an array of services from emergency financial assistance and temporary housing to treatment and counseling services to employment training.
The program started rather informally in 2014, when Harris was approached by Mike Dickinson, a veterans case manager for St. Louis County, and Leslie Perrett, an employment counselor for the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans, about creating a periodic court calendar specifically for veterans.
Harris, a retired Navy judge advocate, said he never intended to start a full-fledged treatment court. However, the informal effort went on to help some 60 veterans in its first three years, and leaders decided to apply for funding and undergo the necessary training.
As team members learned from mistakes and grew into their roles, the effort received official approval from the Minnesota Judicial Council in 2018.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Our vet court team now has representatives from two dozen agencies,” Harris said, “all of whom devote tremendous time and energy because they believe in the mission of this court: to help those in need who have helped our nation.”
Warren Lees is a 2022 graduate of the court. He said he was hesitant to participate when he first signed up and quickly found that the team’s probation officer, Tom Florestano, was a near-constant presence in his life.
Lees, 54, served in the Marine Corps from 1988-92 and was deployed as part of Operation Desert Shield during the Gulf War. He struggled with alcohol for many years after returning home and was charged several times with assault and related offenses.
Lees said he made a critical decision after he was sanctioned for a rules violation in the treatment court.
“Either I change my life and turn it around and do what needs to be done, or I’m just going to end up being one of the statistics of going to prison,” he said. “I’ve been through the system a bunch of times before, and I knew that my veteran card was on the last punch.”
Lees, who now volunteers as a mentor to other participants, said he found a unique experience in veterans court. In the past, he felt like the justice system was “looking for a reason” to trip him up. But Harris, Florestano and the rest of the team appeared to be “in my corner,” Lees said, offering continuous support and incentives along his journey.
“I don’t know where I’d be if I didn’t complete this program,” he said.
Pike, too, said she wasn’t initially thrilled about completing the intensive program. A native of Wadena County, she spent 18 years in the Army National Guard and was deployed to both Kuwait and Iraq.
ADVERTISEMENT
She’s in a much better place today, sober for over five years — a far cry from the days when her parents used to check local jail rosters in hopes of seeing her name, knowing it would mean she was still alive.
Pike, 43, said she was proud to spend more than a year on the job helping construct the new Essentia Health hospital in downtown Duluth. She’s been trusted to help care for family members, cleared up medical issues, and enjoys tending to two dogs and a large garden.
“I love being able to share my story now,” she said.
Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert, a Navy Reserve commander, issued a proclamation in recognition of the court. He said 1 in 6 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have a substance-use disorder, and half of all veterans living with PTSD don’t receive treatment.
Reinert, who started the day at 2:30 a.m. in Norfolk, Virginia, where he was fulfilling his duties, recalled how he leaned on the Vet Center for support after returning from a deployment to Afghanistan.
“Whether it's from deployment, whether it's from service, whether it's the life that brought us to service, we carry all these things,” he said. “But we have a family. ... We hold each other accountable.”
While celebrating the decade mark, the program is set for a change this summer. Harris announced that he will step aside, handing the reins to Judge Nicole Hopps on July 1.
Hopps, a former public defender who was appointed to the bench last year, has served other treatment courts in various capacities since 2006, and she has strong family ties to the military.
ADVERTISEMENT
She said Harris has built an “amazing program,” and she has “the utmost admiration and respect” for the veterans who successfully completed it.
“This treatment court has helped change the way that our system treats veterans,” Hopps said, “and it's made second chances possible.”
The Trust Project
