Shame of Texas From WWII To Today

Commentary: The shame of Texas
The Statesman
OPINION By Drs. Octavio N. Martinez, Jr. and William S. Bush
Special to the American-Statesman
Sept. 4, 2016

Where if all else fails, the criminal justice system picks up the pieces — and too many of our veterans and loved ones are ending up homeless, marginalized and unseen. For if we do not do enough, one thing is certain: The shame of Texas will continue.

A shortage of available beds in the state’s system of psychiatric hospitals has left nearly 400 Texans languishing for months, sometimes years, on a waiting list. This is according to a recent Texas Tribune article, which describes examples of individuals who wound up accessing care only after being charged with a crime.

Over half of the current residents in Texas’ psychiatric hospitals are “forensic” commitments through the criminal justice system, which is often the only way that low-income people with mental illness can access treatment. Further compounding these daunting problems is the continued use of “crumbling, century-old state hospitals” built in an earlier time when mental health and mental illness were poorly understood — even by credentialed experts.

This depressing state of affairs recalls an earlier period, in the decade after World War II, when similar conditions sparked a mass movement that decried inadequate mental health care as “the shame of Texas.”
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Wife Fights For Justice As Air Force Veteran Sits in Jail

'I can't be silent any longer' - Wife of veteran fights for husband's release
North West Florida News
Kelly Humphrey
September 3, 2016

A medical board issued him an honor-able discharge after four years and 10 months of service. The loss of his military career devastated him, Angela said, and he would later be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“He attempted suicide shortly after that,” she said. “It broke his heart to be out of the Air Force.”

At 9:18 a.m. on April 9, 2015, Aaron Wanless sent an email to his psychiatrist’s office at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs clinic at Eglin Air Force Base.

“This medication is killing me,” he wrote. “My brain is malfunctioning.”

At the moment he sent the message, the 35-year-old Air Force veteran was a fugitive, having spent the previous night eluding sheriff’s deputies following an armed altercation at his father’s house.

Shortly after sending the email, Aaron surrendered and was taken to jail, where he has remained for 17 months without bond as his case winds it way through the judicial system.

Aaron had confided in Angela when they first met that he’d experienced depression. She and Melendez attribute it to a serious motorcycle accident he had while stationed at Patrick Air Force Base near Cocoa Beach in 2001.

“Several bones in his lower leg were shattered,” Melendez wrote. “For a while, doctors thought they may have to amputate his leg. Aaron was in rehab for months.”

Although he would go on to serve with his Air Force unit at ground zero in New York following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, by 2002 the military decided he was no longer fit for service.
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PTSD Veteran of 17 Years in National Guard Sues After Oregon Arrest

Fall Creek man files $3 million lawsuit, alleges mistreatment after arrest at Oregon Country Fair
The Register-Guard
By Jack Moran
JULY 4, 2016

The suit links his behavioral change to an adverse reaction to medication that a doctor at a Veterans Administration clinic in Eugene had prescribed to him less than three weeks before the fair began.

Fricano served 17 years in the National Guard and has been an artisan jeweler, according to the lawsuit.

A Fall Creek man alleges in a civil rights lawsuit that he was wrongly denied necessary psychiatric care for 15 days after being arrested at the Oregon Country Fair and lodged in the Lane County Jail.

Angelo James Fricano is seeking $3 million in the federal suit. It was filed last week in U.S. District Court in Eugene by attorneys with the Civil Liberties Defense Center, a Eugene nonprofit organization.

The defendants include Lane County and Corizon Health, a private firm that contracted with the county to provide health care to inmates.

Representatives for Corizon and the county declined comment on the suit, which also lists several county and Corizon employees as defendants.

According to the lawsuit, Fricano had no prior criminal record or history of mental health problems when he was arrested on June 29, 2014.

Authorities took him into custody after he allegedly used a baseball bat to menace a fellow vendor at the Oregon Country Fair, an annual gathering held outside Veneta.

Prosecutors dismissed the criminal case in September 2014, court records show.

The lawsuit says Fricano attended the fair as a vendor despite having displayed unusual behavior in the days leading up to the event.

“There is a basic human standard which is desperately lacking in this community, one we aim to influence and correct,” Fricano said in a statement. “The people deserve better.”
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New Jersey Veterans Diversion Program?

Excuse me but they are far from broken. They just need help to undo the damage done by leaders who decided they would disregard 40 years of research on what combat does to them, a Congress more interested in paying back buddies by passing bills that do more harm than good and a society where all anyone has to do is say they are "helping" and then help themselves to money. 

If you think any of this is new, suggest you research how many Vietnam veterans ended up in jail. It may shock you but at least you'll know more than most of the folks in this article do. 

This is a step in the right direction but stop calling them broken.

For arrested veterans, treatment instead of criminal charges?
New Jersey 101.5
By Michael Symons
June 13, 2016

“When they come back, they are broken. And they’re expected to just turn that switch off overnight. And instead of getting medals, they are getting convictions, and they’re getting arrests,” said Chris Adams, president of the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Veterans who have nonviolent brushes with the law could be diverted away from courtrooms into treatment for substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder, under a bill being considered by lawmakers that got its first approval last week.

The “Statewide Veterans Diversion Program” aims to address addiction and mental illness issues among veterans that can often go untreated. Veterans have trouble adjusting to civilian life, or perhaps can’t sleep and turn to alcohol, and then situations spiral as they interact – or overreact – with police.

“We send these people into war to die, to get hurt, to be injured, and they don’t come back the same way even if none of that happens to them. We have a moral responsibility,” said Sen. Van Drew, D-Cape May.
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Almost 1 out of 10 Incarcerated are Veterans

Quaker House vigil to draw attention to mental health care for jailed vets
Fay Observer
By Drew Brooks Military editor
April 10, 2016

"Approximately one in 10 prison inmates have served in the military," Newsom said. "Many suffer from PTSD and/or traumatic brain injury, which increases the likelihood of violent, aggressive and impulsive behavior and requires a regular regime of therapy and medication."

Activists looking to improve the mental health care for jailed veterans will host a vigil outside the Airborne and Special Operations Museum on Monday.

The event will start at 5 p.m. at the museum, 100 Bragg Blvd.

It's led by the Fayetteville Quaker House, which has circulated a petition in recent weeks aimed at encouraging state leaders to provide better care for service members and veterans behind bars, including Joshua Eisenhauer, a former Fort Bragg staff sergeant who was sentenced to between 10 and 18 years in prison last year for charges related to a 2012 shooting at his apartment.

Lynn Newsom, a Quaker House director, said Eisenhauer suffers from severe combat related post-traumatic stress.

She said he is held in an open room with 30 other prisoners, allowed to see a social worker only about once every two months.

And the prison, she said, abuts a shooting range, which worsens his trauma.
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Abused Dogs Find New Home Behind Bars With Veterans

New jail program matches up abused dogs with veterans behind bars
AZ Family
Tami Hoey
April 6, 2016

A new program at the Maricopa County jail matches up abused dogs from with military veterans who are serving time.

The dogs are from Sheriff Joe Arpaio's MASH (Maricopa Animal Safe Haven) Unit.

All the dogs in the MASH Unit are formerly abused and neglected and were seized from their prior owners under criminal circumstances by detectives in the Animal Crimes Unit.

Now, every Wednesday, dogs from that unit will be taken to the veterans pod at Towers Jail in the Durango Complex to spend time with inmates who are veterans.

The dogs range in breed from terriers to labs to pit bulls.

Arpaio says both dogs and inmates can benefit from the program.

Studies have been found that the presence of animals can help inmates deal with stress.
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azfamily.com 3TV | Phoenix Breaking News, Weather, Sport

Incarcerated Veterans Fight For Help From VA

Advocates Say Imprisoned Veterans Should Have Access to VA 
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
Mar 11, 2016

Members of the Incarcerated Vietnam Veterans of America (IVVA), Chapter 1065, at the Correctional Training Facility (CTF) salute before folding the U.S. flag.
(Photo: Inside CDCR)

Two veterans' service organizations are backing Senate legislation requiring prison officials to give the Veterans Affairs Department reasonable access to a prisoner who has served in the military.

John Rowan, president of the Vietnam Veterans Association, on Tuesday informed Sens. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Dick Durbin, a Democrat from New York and fellow panel member, of the organization's support for the bill, while Paralyzed Veterans of America on Thursday notified the lawmakers of its support. 

"Because of its long history with veterans and criminal justice issues, [Vietnam Veterans of America] has always believed that VA access to incarcerated veterans is especially needed by those transitioning from incarceration to life beyond prison walls, Rowan wrote in the letter, a copy of which was provided to Military.com.

Carl Blake, associate executive director for Government Relations for PVA, said the group offers its full support to the bill.

"A veteran utilizing resources such as mental health care, substance abuse treatment and education benefits significantly increases the likelihood of successful re-entry into society, he told the Senators in a letter.
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Nebraska County Jail Starts Veterans Unit

Douglas County jail in Omaha opens new military vet unit
The Columbus Telegram
Updated Feb 27, 2016

Justine Wall, the department's in-house program coordinator, said he's never seen a prison unit operate the way the veterans unit does, "where everybody looks out for each other, everybody takes care of each other."

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Douglas County jail in Omaha has a new prisoner unit to house military veterans, the first of its kind in Nebraska and one of several in jails nationwide.

The Douglas County Department of Corrections unit, which houses 25 to 30 men, opened about three months ago, The Omaha World-Herald reported (http://bit.ly/1KSG8d0 ) Saturday.

The special unit is based on the idea that many crimes committed by veterans are related to things that happened to them in the military.

"People who went down-range, they saw things, they have PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), they are back, they self-medicate, and they get in trouble," said Mick Wagoner, a lawyer with the Veterans Support Legal Network.

The unit is open to all male military veterans except for the most dangerous, predatory or disruptive people. People facing murder charges aren't eligible, nor are those with chronic behavior problems in jail.
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"Last Day of Freedom" Explores Veterans On Death Row

Oscar-nominated film spotlights death-row veterans, combat PTSD
Military Times
By Patricia Kime
February 22, 2016

“They was able to discern his physical wounds and was able to patch them up, but they never got around to patching that wound in his head.” Bill Babbitt

A film that raises questions about veterans' mental health care, capital punishment and justice for troubled troops is on the short list for an Oscar on Feb. 28.

The 30-minute documentary “Last Day of Freedom” tells the story of Marine veteran Manuel Babbitt through the eyes of his brother. Babbitt was executed in California after being convicted of beating an elderly woman to death.
(Photo: Courtesy of Dee Hibbert-Jones)

The 30-minute documentary “Last Day of Freedom” tells the story of former Marine Manuel Babbitt through the eyes of his brother Bill. Babbitt was executed in California in 1999 after being convicted of beating an elderly woman to death in Sacramento in 1980.

Babbitt — “Manny” to family and friends — had suffered a head injury as a child, and despite having learning disabilities and dropping out of school in seventh grade at age 17, was recruited by the Marine Corps. He went to Vietnam and later developed a host of mental health issues, including schizophrenia, severe post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse.

“They was able to discern his physical wounds and was able to patch them up, but they never got around to patching that wound in his head,” Bill says in the film.

Through a melange of film footage and animation using more than 30,000 drawings and sketches, filmmakers Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman follow Manny Babbitt's life from childhood to grave, focusing on his struggles but also on the system they believe failed him.

"One of the things we really wanted to uncover is the complexities of the death penalty and of veterans' care," said Hibbert-Jones, an associate professor of art at the University of California-Santa Cruz. "The fact that someone would go to war and serve their country and then be failed by that country is a complete travesty.”
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Some Veterans Had Their Day Behind Bars

These veterans had their day behind bars. Many of them are there because of unaddressed PTSD and a law that was not fair to all of them.

"In 1980, the law changed to allow judges to consider PTSD as a reason for leniency for veterans. However, those who suffered from the disorder prior to 1980 aren't entitled to that consideration."

A Veterans Day service for those behind bars
Reading Eagle
Holly Herman
November 12, 2015

SKIPPACK, PA

Reading Eagle: Tim Leedy | Former U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak speaks at the event.

Sunlight glistened through the stained-glass windows in a Montgomery County chapel on Wednesday during a service for 150 veterans who served their country and lost comrades in combat.

The Veterans Day service seemed like all of the others going on around the Tri-County region, but it wasn't.

These veterans are inmates at the State Correctional Institution at Graterford, Skippack Township. About 50 of them are serving life sentences for murder.

They are members of the Graterford Prison Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 466, an organization founded in 1980 to address the concerns of Vietnam War vets.

"We all band together like brothers," Commer Glass, founder and president, said during a telephone interview prior to the 33rd annual Veterans Day service at the prison. "We help each other out, and we cry on each others' shoulders."

Glass, 70, is serving a life sentence. He said the group is lobbying for a law that would permit veterans who served before 1980 a chance to be released if it could be determined that post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, caused them to commit a violent crime. PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can develop after a person is exposed to a traumatic event such as war.

In 1980, the law changed to allow judges to consider PTSD as a reason for leniency for veterans. However, those who suffered from the disorder prior to 1980 aren't entitled to that consideration.
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Veterans 7% of Population but 10% On Death Row

Report: Around 10 Percent of People on Death Row Are Veterans 
Newsweek
BY LAUREN WALKER
11/10/15

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has affected a striking number of veterans. The Congressionally mandated National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study found that more than 800,000 Vietnam veterans suffered from PTSD and 15 percent of the male veterans continued to suffer more than 10 years later. A 2008 RAND Corporation study estimated that around 300,000 members of the military deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan had PTSD as well.

Execution chamber at the Arizona State Prison Complex.

ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS/HANDOUT/REUTERS

Veterans make up nearly seven percent of the U.S. population, but represent around 10 percent of the people on death row, according to a Tuesday report from the Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit.

The report’s author, senior program director Richard Dieter, arrived at his estimate by using the most recent, available data: A 2007 Justice Department study, which placed the number of veterans in prison in 2004 at 10 percent of the overall prison population. He then applied that percentage to those currently on death row. The total comes out to around 300 people.

Dieter says this estimate is conservative. “Following the Vietnam era,” he writes, “veterans constituted about 20 percent of the prison population.” Though the more recent estimate (10 percent) represents a decline from that period, “it did not include the likely upsurge due to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
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Connecticut Correction Department Has Veterans Unit

Connecticut opens prison unit dedicated to veterans 
Associated Press
By Pat Eaton-Robb
Published: November 7, 2015

The Veterans Administration says there are currently more than 530 military veterans in Connecticut prisons.

HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut's Correction Department has set up a new unit in its prison system devoted solely to inmates who are also military veterans.

The Veterans Service Unit, which includes 110 beds inside the Willard-Cybulski Correctional Institution, will be formally dedicated on Monday in a ceremony attended by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

It's part of a larger reintegration center at the prison, designed to prepare inmates to re-enter society.

But, in addition to the job training and other programs offered to other prisoners, the veterans will get special help to deal with military-specific issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder. There also will be peer counseling from other vets who have been to prison and access to attorneys from the Connecticut Veterans Legal Clinic.

The unit has a military theme, complete with reveille in the morning, a color guard, and a code of conduct that includes keeping a "squared away uniform at all times."

There are patriotic murals on the walls, and the official seals of the five branches of the Armed Services are displayed.
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El Paso Veterans Court Gets Patriotism Award

El Paso Veterans Court receives state recognition for treatment services
KFOX 14 News
Crystal Price
Fri, Oct 02 2015

In addition to the veteran cases, they also work with other organizations to hold events such as the annual Stand Down. Through this event, they go out in the community and offer showers, meals, and clothes for homeless veterans.

EL PASO, Texas -- The El Paso Veterans Treatment Court program has received state recognition for the services they provide in the community.

The Texas Veterans Commission recently presented the El Paso specialty court with the Patriotism Award.

The court program offers treatment to veterans who get in trouble with the law, opposed to sending them straight to jail.

Through grants from the Office of the Governor, the program offers treatment to veterans who may suffer from substance abuse or mental health illnesses.

Angie Juarez Barill, judge for the 346th District Court, started the program three years ago. "We saw so many of our men and women veterans and so many active military coming through our court system," Barill said. "So we knew we had to do something about it."

Through this 18-month program, veterans are able to receive counseling and the court assists scheduling VA appointments.

Since the program started the El Paso Veteran's Court has had 50 veterans graduate from the program.

However, Barill said they have had more than 250 veterans who have applied. Barill said these individuals were turned away because they could not prove they had a combat-related illness.
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Help For Formerly Incarcerated Vets

DOL-VETS Announces $1.6 Million to Help Formerly Incarcerated Vets Return to Work, Avoid Homelessness

Sept. 23, 2015

WASHINGTON — Supporting the president's goal to eliminate homelessness among U.S. military veterans, the U.S. Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service today announced the award of $1.5 million in grants to help once-incarcerated veterans considered "at-risk" of becoming homeless. In all, seven grants will serve more than 650 formerly incarcerated veterans in six states.

"Everyone deserves a second chance, especially the men and women who have sacrificed for our country," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. "The Incarcerated Veterans Transition Program (IVTP) opens doors for veterans who may have struggled but who want to return to America's workforce. Today's grants will help these veterans become valuable contributors to the nation's economic recovery and our society."

The Incarcerated Veterans Transition Program grants will provide referral and counseling services to assist in reintegrating and/or transitioning formerly incarcerated veterans considered "at-risk" of becoming homeless to meaningful employment. The funds will also support the development of methods to address the complex problems facing these veterans. The program's design is flexible, to enable it to address national, regional and/or local issues that prevent once-incarcerated veterans from returning to the workforce.

The grant recipients and award amounts are as follows:

• Veterans Multi-Service Center | Philadelphia, Pa. | $223,937
• Goodwill Industries of Houston | Houston, Texas | $300,000
• Volunteers of America of Los Angeles | Los Angeles, Calif. | $300,000
• Impact Services Corporation | Philadelphia, Pa. | $300,000
• United States Veterans Initiative | Las Vegas, Nev. | $110,000
• The Workplace Inc. | Bridgeport, Conn. | $129,565
• Aletheia House, Inc. | Birmingham, Ala. | $160,704

For more information on these grants, visit http://www.dol.gov/vets/.

Making the Case Justice For Veterans

A jail that helps veterans heal their mental wounds
CBS News
Katti Gray
Crime Reporter
September 17, 2015

Jailed Vets, 10 percent of America's incarcerated population

A year to the day after his baby brother was shot dead in a Kansas prairie town, German Villegas' best buddy in Afghanistan, U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Michael J. Palacios, was killed by a bomb he'd been ordered to find and defuse.

"We were both on the list to search for explosives," Villegas recalled.

But it was Palacios who was ultimately dispatched that day in November 2012. "He got hit by a 200-pound IED," two months before both men were slated to go home, Villegas said.

Villegas returned stateside, a shattered man.

"My number-one goal was to get drunk and just try to forget everything," said the 23-year-old, who joined the Marines straight out of high school and spent five years in the service. Fired from the military police, he was shunted into what he calls "punitive duties" that had him cleaning up after battalion officers and picking up trash.

But the worst were the funeral details.

"(That) was the completely wrong thing for me to have to do," he continued. "Every time I did one of these funerals, I'm seeing these families crying. I became pretty good at compartmentalizing -- or so I thought."

Generally, the veterans volunteer to be diverted to such units through special veterans-only treatment courts -- about 220 exist around the country -- that form another arm of a broad and growing strategy to keep as many criminally accused former military personnel as possible out from behind bars. That strategy is being pursued as the nation grapples with how to balance citizen demands for public safety with efforts to pare incarceration costs, incarceration rates, and the risks that those released from prison will return to crime.

In that quest, veterans have emerged as a prime target.

For one thing, their service and sacrifice make it hard for would-be critics of "perks" for prisoners to scoff at programs aimed at incarcerated veterans' uplift, said Melissa Fitzgerald, senior director of Fairfax, Va.-based Justice for Vets.
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Army Killed Deal to Help PTSD Fort Bragg Soldier Get Justice

This is an important story to read especially when you consider this Soldier was a good Soldier yet the military wants to blame what happened to him in his life before joining. They have a habit of doing that. I hope you read the whole story but if not, please read what those who served with him had to say.

Tragedy, Trauma Mark Fort Bragg Soldier's Path to Prison 
Fayetteville Observer
Greg Barnes
September 14, 2015

In September 2014, Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West confirmed that the Army had reneged on a deal for Eisenhauer's case to be transferred from civilian jurisdiction to the military.

Under the agreement, Eisenhauer was to face a court-martial and be separated from the Army on a general discharge, which would have allowed him to get Veterans Affairs benefits for life to treat his PTSD. But the Army killed the deal, for reasons officials at Fort Bragg have never revealed. Eisenhauer is officially still in the Army.

In February, Eisenhauer pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers and government officials. He had been charged with 15 counts of attempted murder.

On Aug. 6, the day of Eisenhauer's sentencing hearing, his family and friends from across the country filled one side of the courtroom. Police and firefighters filled the other.

Psychiatrists testified that a combination of Eisenhauer's severe PTSD, his alcohol and prescription drug abuse and the Womack doctor's decision to reduce his Klonopin all contributed to flashbacks to Afghanistan and to the shootings.

Eisenhauer's Army buddies testified to his character and the changes they saw in him after the suicide bombing.

Many also wrote letters to the court on Eisenhauer's behalf.

Cmd. Sgt. Major Richard Flowers wrote that he was with Eisenhauer on both of Eisenhauer's combat deployments in Afghanistan.

"It became my opinion that SSG Eisenhauer was a true professional in every sense of that word," Flowers wrote. "SSG Eisenhauer gave everything on the battlefield and prior to the end of his last deployment, he was the man I wanted watching my back."

Former soldier Kevin Strohmeyer described Eisenhauer as, "by far, the most prepared soldier I knew in the Army."

Col. John Orendorff, deputy commander of a wounded warrior brigade that includes Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, urged Ammons to let Eisenhauer get the PTSD treatment he desperately needs -- first at Fort Bragg's Warrior Transition Battalion and later at Walter Reed.

Although Eisenhauer's lawyer, Larry McGlothlin, asked for probation, the defense agreed that Eisenhauer should not go completely free until he had undergone significant treatment.

Psychiatrist G. Martin Woodard argued that Eisenhauer would not be able to get adequate treatment for PTSD in prison. Without it, Woodard said, Eisenhauer's condition is likely to deteriorate to the point he can never be fully functional.

Prosecutors, police and firefighters argued that prison was the right place for Eisenhauer.
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Sacramento Veterans Court Giving Veterans Another Chance

Sacramento Veterans Court Gives Those Who Served Another Chance And A Helping Hand
CBS Sacramento
August 21, 2015

The specialized court is their compass, and the man leading the charge is a veteran of the Vietnam era.

“It’s been very gratifying for me–particularly gratifying that we have veterans in our program from the Vietnam era,” he said. “Those are a group of vets I think who were largely overlooked for a long, long time.”

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — It’s been a year since CBS13 took viewers inside a specialized courtroom designed to give veterans who commit crimes a second chance.

It’s an unusual spot to hold a graduation ceremony, but that’s what’s happening inside Department 1 of the Sacramento County Superior Courthouse. It’s where Judge David Abbot is not handing down a sentence or giving jury instructions—he’s extending a lifeline to those who have risked their lives fighting for our country.

The Sacramento County Veterans Treatment Court allows certain defendants who have experienced combat to have their criminal records wiped clean. They need to complete a 120 to 18-month program where they have to stay sober, not re-offend, and meet with the judge, a mentor, and a probation officer on a regular basis.
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PTSD On Trial: Tim Rojas on Texas Death Row

Ex-Marine on death row says jurors should have been told more about PTSD
Dallas News
By BRANDI GRISSOM
Austin Bureau
Published: 02 August 2015

In Texas, 10 of the 261 death row inmates reported some military service, according to the Department of Criminal Justice.

To Tim Rojas, it feels like just yesterday that he and his Marine buddy John Thuesen were on the battlefield together, looking death in the face and trying to make sure they both got home to their families.

In reality, it’s been more than a decade since they left Iraq. Rojas works at a high-powered Houston investment firm. Thuesen, though, is in a 6-by-10 solitary cell, hoping that Texas’ highest criminal court will spare him from the death penalty.

“Hope is everything,” Rojas said.

Thuesen, 31, has been on death row since he was convicted in 2010 of fatally shooting his girlfriend Rachel Joiner and her brother Travis Joiner in their College Station home.

In July, Brazos County District Judge Travis Bryan III agreed with Thuesen’s appellate lawyers that the attorneys who defended Thuesen at trial didn’t adequately inform jurors about their client’s post-traumatic stress disorder after his return from combat. With more information about PTSD and its effects, Bryan said in court documents, the jurors who sentenced Thuesen to death may have decided differently. Bryan’s ruling is now under review by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which will ultimately decide whether Thuesen should get a new trial and a chance at a lesser sentence.
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PTSD Vietnam Veteran In Jail Instead of Treatment?

Veteran With PTSD Jailed Twice In 2 Days: Family Says He Needs Help, Not Jail
WHO 13 News Iowa
BY AARON BRILBECK
JULY 23, 2015

The family says they recently tried to have Schutty committed, but because of a lack of mental health options in Iowa they have been turned away time and time again. They say he doesn’t belong in a jail cell.

NEWTON, Iowa — 68-year old John Schutty of Newton was arrested twice in two days on assault and weapons charges. The first time, Tuesday, police say he chased a woman in his Hummer along Highway Six and forced her into this parking lot.

When police arrived he told them that, as a Vietnam vet he was obligated “Take care of drug dealers” and that “There are people who kill for money and people who kill for fun, but a ranger does both and that’s what he is.”

Despite the threat, Schutty was released from jail, and the very next day showed up at a Git N Go gas station; and he was armed. “They had problems with the prepay and my employee went out to help him.” manager Misty Wooters said, “And he noticed the gun on the bumper with the safety off.”

Schutty, according to police, then went inside. “The guy threatened to shoot people.” Wooters said,”It was a disaster.”

Schutty is in jail, but his family says that’s not where he belongs. They say Schutty is a Vietnam Veteran who struggles with PTSD. He’s been treated for the disorder, but as he gets older, they say, his demons get stronger.
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Decorate Vietnam Veteran Getting Help Instead of More Jail TIme

UPDATE: Decorated war veteran, jailed for 22 months in Madison County, now getting help
WHNT News 19
BY AL WHITAKER
JULY 11, 2015

“There was a unique situation here for somebody that needed help. Without you, it wouldn’t have happened and I appreciate you,” Taylor told WHNT News 19’s Al Whitaker following Friday’s hearing.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) – Important results on a story we’ve been pursuing for months. In February, WHNT News 19 covered the story of Ron Buis, a Vietnam veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He has spent the last 22 months in jail with no treatment for his condition.

We promised then we would not rest until Buis got the help he needed. And now we can report we’ve made good on that promise.

Ron Buis may have survived the Vietnam War but there was never a ceasefire declared with the voices in his head. His PTSD and related symptoms only got worse over the years until 2013 and he began shooting at them, and at the faces that haunted him still. His mobile home depicts the war that Buis was still fighting, some of the bullets landing in his neighbor’s mobile home. As a result, in September of 2013, Buis was arrested on charges of shooting into an occupied dwelling. He has sat in jail, without treatment, for 22 months.

“He’s also been emotionally traumatized and mentally traumatized by the ravages of war, the bombings, the friends and companions that’s he’s lost as a result of being in the war,” Says Buis’ attorney, John Taylor.
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