Harrison County Veterans Treatment Court (2nd Circuit)

A circuit court judge may establish a Veterans Treatment Court under Section 9-25-1, either as a separate program or as a component of an existing intervention court. In Harrison County the program is run by 2nd Circuit Judge Kelly Mims, listed as "Kelly Mims - Veterans Court" in the Administrative Office of Courts' certified intervention court database. The office is at 1801 23rd Avenue, Gulfport, MS 39507, and the coordinator is Donn Mills, (228) 669-4637, [email protected]. The statute lets the judge operate the court in one county of the circuit while taking veteran participants from all counties in the circuit, so a veteran facing charges in Hancock or Stone County can ask about this program too. Eligibility. The attorney representing the state must consent to the defendant's participation, and the court must have found that the defendant is a veteran of the United States Armed Forces as defined in Title 38 of the United States Code. Proof can be submitted in any form the court finds appropriate, including military service and medical records, prior disability determinations by a veterans organization or by VA, testimony or affidavits of other veterans, and prior eligibility determinations by any state or county veterans office. Exclusions and limits. A defendant is excluded where the pending crime is a crime of violence, where the defendant will not demonstrate a willingness to participate in a treatment program, or where the defendant was previously convicted of a felony crime of violence, including murder, rape, sexual battery, statutory rape of a child under sixteen, armed robbery, arson, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, stalking, or any offense involving the discharge of a firearm or serious bodily injury or death. Participation is not a right: the court has the final word. A participant may be charged for chemical tests, though a judge may waive those fees. Successful completion results in dismissal of the charges, a reduced or set aside sentence, a lesser penalty, or a combination, the intervention court outcome the AOC describes. No veterans treatment court is certified in any of the other circuits holding the counties written here: the 7th (Hinds), 19th (Jackson), 20th (Rankin) and 21st (DeSoto) appear in the AOC database only with drug, youth or family intervention courts. A veteran charged in one of those circuits can ask the judge to consider establishing or hosting a veterans track under Section 9-25-1(2), and the statute expressly allows a court to accept referrals from another veterans treatment court.