I was appointed to the San Bernardino Superior Court in 2007. One of my first assignments was Drug Court in Victorville. Prior to taking charge of drug court I learned of Patrick. Patrick was addicted to Meth. He had the classic look of a meth addict; unkempt long, dirty, stringy, hair, poor complexion and missing teeth.
At our first court session I called Patrick up to the Bench to check his attendance card. The attendance card was maintained by each Defendant and was a record of that Defendant’s NA meeting for the week. I saw that Patrick’s card recorded 10 NA meetings for the week. Recall he was only required to attend 5 meetings per week.
I asked Patrick why he was attending so many NA meetings each week. He advised me that he had temporarily lost custody of his son as a result of his addiction. His son John had been temporarily placed with Patrick’s brother. His social worker promised Patrick if he successfully completed drug court and became employed he would be reunited with his son. Patrick was working hard to make that happen.
I asked Patrick if he would be able to bring his son to our next court session. He said he could and I asked him to bring John with him the next time he was scheduled for court.
At our next hearing Patrick arrived with his son. In addition to Patrick, there were 60 other Defendants in court that day. I called the courtroom to order and invited Patrick and his son to come up to my Bench. John was only 6 or 7 so we had him stand on a chair. I reached across my Bench to shake John’s hand. While speaking into the microphone, I asked John if he knew why his dad was in court. He said he did and knew his dad was having a problem with drugs. I told John that his dad was in court because he wanted to be with John again. I thanked John for helping his dad with his recovery. I told John that Patrick will graduate the program with John’s help. I then asked John if he would come back to court and speak at Patrick’s graduation. John, in a shy voice, said “I guess so”.
Patrick had 6 more months in the program until graduation. He completed the program on time and I reminded him that I invited his son to speak at the graduation ceremony John kept his promise to me and Patrick and spoke at the graduation. This 7 year old boy spoke eloquently about his dad and how proud he was that Patrick graduated. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
Shortly after this graduation I was reassigned to the Rancho Cucamonga Court and then to the San Bernardino Justice Center (SBJC). About 9 years after Patrick graduated I was invited to attend another Drug Court Graduation, this time in San Bernardino. I chose to attend and learned that drug court would be recognizing one of its prior successful graduates. To my surprise the honoree was Patrick. After graduating from Victorville Drug Court, Patrick went on to obtain his AA from Victor Valley College, a BA from Cal State San Bernardino and was working on his Masters in social work. John, his son, now 16, was also in attendance and was also planning on attending Cal State to obtain his degree in social work.
Patrick’s story is unique. Only about 10% of drug court participants complete the program successfully, never to return again. Nevertheless, Drug Court is considered an invaluable program as we save lives and reunite families, even though we are successful only 10% of the time.
Michael Sachs is the Presiding Judge Elect for the Superior Court of San Bernardino County and was a speaker at the 2019 Court-Clergy Conference held at the Diocesan Pastoral Center.