HUFFINGTON
10.07.12
COMING HOME
of living on the streets.
All this happens with the prosecutor, the probation officers, VA
case managers — and Judge Dugan
— watching carefully.
“I don’t consider this to be
more lenient,” Dugan says. “I
expect more out of these guys
because of their military background. They went through basic
training. They did stuff. They volunteered to go in harm’s way. And
they earned these benefits.”
Garant, the assistant district attorney, insists he treats veterans
more harshly than other offenders.
“A guy charged with (drug) possession, pleads guilty in criminal
court, he gets six months probation and no treatment — but he
walks,” Garant said. “Same guy in
Veterans Court, we make him go
through treatment and that may
take a year during which time he’s
on probation. So he does more
time, but he gets help.
“I don’t want to put these guys
in jail,” Garant said. “I don’t
want to give them a record. I
want to get them help.”
TRYING TO GET
THROUGH THAT
This summer, things were looking
good for Jamie Beavers. He was out
on six months probation, checking in regularly in Dugan’s Veterans
Court, finishing up a methadone
drug treatment program at the VA
medical center and attending Narcotics Anonymous. He is working
with counselors at the Philadelphia
Veterans Multiservice and Education Center on getting his bills paid,
working on his resume, hunting for
employment, and applying for affordable housing.
He and his wife are separated,
but every other weekend, he was
seeing his two girls, 8 and 20
months — “the only time I feel really joyful,” he said.
Just when things were going well,
trouble struck again. Picking up his
daughters on a mid-August Friday
night for pizza and videos, he got
into an argument with his wife;
things escalated, the cops were
called, and Jamie was arrested. His
mother posted bail.
The clash and arrest threw Beavers into a deep depression. Barred
from seeing his eight year-old and
baby daughter, he lay in bed much
of the day in his second-floor
apartment just off Shunk Avenue
in south Philly, refusing to answer
his phone or email. He stopped
showing up at the vets center.
Gormley, the ex-cop, became