The Southeast Missouri Veterans Treatment Court (36th Judicial Circuit: Butler and Ripley Counties)

The VA's own story. The VA's "From Struggle to Strength: Veterans find renewal through VA, treatment court" (va.gov, Poplar Bluff health care, October 26, 2026): the treatment court "is in its 15th year pairing eligible, justice-involved Veterans with interventional services through the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center's Veterans Justice Outreach Program", described as "the first multi-jurisdictional, rural Veterans treatment court in the nation". The programme "features five phases spread over the course of 15 months" under Lesley Lynn, "36th Judicial Circuit Southeast Missouri Veterans Treatment Court commissioner". Veterans "participate in group sessions and treatment at the VA medical center, and they must appear in court periodically"; "Essentially, all their treatment is through VA." Gary Helle, the medical center's Veterans Justice Outreach coordinator, builds the referral network through "regional law enforcement officers, jail and court staff"; the team includes peer support specialists and mentors, and before graduation each veteran is connected with "family, community, financial and even cultural resources". The story's graduates appeared in a Butler County, Missouri, courtroom. The State's map. The Office of State Courts Administrator's Veterans Courts map (updated January 2024, read through the Internet Archive capture of March 5, 2025 because courts.mo.gov answers 403 to plain fetch) shades the 36th circuit - Butler and Ripley counties - as running a "Veterans Treatment Court Program". Section 478.001.7 is the authorising statute; see the Missouri entry. How a Butler County veteran starts. Through defence counsel, the jail's VJO outreach, or the Circuit Clerk's route: Cindi Bowman is Circuit Court Clerk at the Butler County Courthouse, 100 N. Main Street (Civil and Criminal Divisions on the third floor, 573-686-8082 and 573-686-8087; Probate on the first floor, 573-686-8073), with Missouri Case.net remote public access. The programme's eligibility is a qualifying offence accepted by the veteran and the treatment need the VA story describes; a disability rating is not the test. Ripley County. Ripley is the 36th Circuit's other county, shaded with Butler on the January 2024 map (rendered from the Internet Archive's copy and checked), so the circuit's veterans court is Ripley's too. This widening rests on the map and the circuit's makeup; no page or order of the circuit's own naming Ripley could be read, and Ripley County has no county website, so no minutes or budget could show the docket either (the Ripley County Chamber of Commerce's site, which the Missouri Association of Counties links as the county's, lists the courthouse offices' phone numbers only). A Ripley County veteran facing charges should ask a defence lawyer to raise the veterans docket early, or call the Ripley County Circuit Clerk, 100 Court House Square, Doniphan (573-996-2818).