David Belcher reported to the Cascade County Courthouse in November 2013 to be sentenced for drug possession and criminal endangerment. He thought he was going to prison for nine years.
Instead, he was given a second chance, thanks to his military record, through a spot in the newly established Montana 8th Judicial District Veterans Treatment Court.
“I could blame it on my head injury. I could blame it on my PTSD,” Belcher said of his criminal case. “I did have those things — I do have those things. I’ll need to have treatment for the rest of my life.”
Belcher will need treatment for the rest of his life because he has a chronic relapsing disease. He has an addiction.
“There are evil-doing people that for the sake of community safety belong in prison — the major drug dealers, manufacturers and traffickers of drugs.” said District Judge Greg Pinski, the Veterans Court judge. “But, most of what we deal with is people possessing drugs — meth, pills. For the most part, they are not evil at their core.”
Pinski instead characterized many of the offenders he sees in court as people who faced life circumstances that led them to addiction, like Belcher.
“If you get them the help they need they’ll stop committing crimes,” he said.
To continue reading this article by Andrea Fisher, go to: http://www.greatfallstribune.c...-criminals/85681834/
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