San Diego Superior Court Veterans Treatment Court and Military Diversion

The Superior Court in San Diego County runs a Veterans Treatment Court for veterans and active-duty members whose offense stemmed from their service, including those assessed with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma or substance abuse. The programme lasts at least 18 months, with services from VA, Veterans Village of San Diego and the Vet Center and a fellow veteran as mentor. Graduates may petition to have their charges dismissed. Military diversion. The court, the District Attorney, the City Attorney and the Public Defender publish an information sheet, form CRM-283 (revised February 2025), on diversion under Penal Code section 1001.80. File the Request for Military Diversion, form CRM-284, as early as possible; the defense then files a motion at least 15 days before the hearing with proof of service, an assessment, which for a veteran can come from a regional Vet Center in San Diego, San Marcos or Chula Vista or a VA clinic, and a treatment plan. Diversion lasts up to two years, commonly 12 to 24 months of treatment with progress reports every 90 days, and ends in dismissal. The sheet adds a condition the statute does not have: a defendant must not already have been granted military diversion in another case, and it steers a defendant with a prior conviction for a similar offense to the Veterans Treatment Court instead. The sheet says it is guidance on best practice, not a strict rule, so a defendant refused on that ground alone can argue the statute.