Pulaski County judge honored for support of veterans

Crystal Kocher has worked in nearly every part of the local court system. She served as a prosecutor, a public defender and a magistrate before former Gov. Eric Holcomb appointed her in 2017 to serve as a Pulaski County Superior Court judge.

That work as a public defender she credits with an honor she received this month as a judge. The Steven P. Mennemeyer Award celebrates someone who works in criminal justice and has made significant contributions to the veterans community.

Kocher earned the award — bestowed by the Indiana Office of Court Services during its annual justice services conference — for her work establishing the county’s Veterans Treatment Court in 2018. The treatment court serves veterans in Pulaski County and surrounding areas by coordinating treatment for mental health problems and alcohol and drug addiction.

Kocher said the court is making an impact for veterans who are struggling.

“We’ve done lots of different things, and this is what I see working,” Kocher said. “This is what people respond to when they feel supported, when they feel like they’re part of the solution to the issue that they’re facing, when they feel seen and feel like they have potential.”

Alongside Kocher is a group of supportive staff and treatment participants who share the same mission — serving the community with intention to leave a lasting effect on individuals and their loved ones.

“We always remind them, this is a whole person treatment court,” said Charissa Estes, coordinator of the treatment court. “We are focused on your financial independence and stability and your mental health, your relationships, all of it.”

Supporting veteran recovery

Kocher helped establish Pulaski County Superior Court’s Veterans Treatment Court shortly after she was appointed to the bench, and it was certified in 2019. Kocher had started in private practice in Lafayette before becoming a Tippecanoe County public defender. She eventually rose to a magistrate position in the county before being called back to her native Pulaski County and working as chief deputy prosecutor.

But it was while working with juveniles as a public defender that she first saw the need for treatment courts in the criminal justice system.

“I started thinking about, how great would it be if we had a different process for this? If we had people who could help these individuals navigate this system and help provide those warm handoffs, because people were getting lost in the system,” she said.

Kocher described the system as a “revolving door.” An offender struggling with substance abuse would go through criminal justice proceedings and be cleared to leave just to return within the month for re-offending.

She understood that some offenders were unmotivated or too embarrassed to ask for help with treatment, so she began searching for ways to diminish barriers to recovery. She landed on a court specifically to address veterans’ issues.

Bill Hayhurst is one of those veterans. An Army and National Guard veteran, Hayhurst is in the last phase of a year-long veterans court program and says the treatment court has changed his future and his outlook on recovery.

He remembers that a woman at a recovery meeting once told him that she had “realized that some people in our courts were on our side.”

Then she “got on her own side, that it all worked out well,” he said. “When I got on my own team, like that girl had mentioned, it has worked out so nice, and so I’ve been blessed.”

That’s the goal of the court – to show defendants the court is on their “team” in part by establishing and maintaining strong relationships with them.

The court also works to identify innovative resources that help offenders discover what opportunities are available to them. Kocher recently developed a community navigator program, which provides the court and participants with a sort of liaison who can help point participants in the directions of treatment and other needs in their recovery.

Several members of the treatment court’s staff told The Indiana Lawyer that a noticeable change happens to participants when they realize the court is trying to help, not hurt, them.

“Typically in the criminal justice system, there is that ‘us versus them’ kind of mentality, and there’s not a lot of trust both ways, not just with the participants,” said Sandy Lucas, the court’s chief probation officer. “So to see them learn to trust us and to believe that we actually care about them and what’s in their best interest, despite consequences or other things we might have to do with them, has just really been fun to watch.”

Lucas works across the county’s three treatment courts. In addition to the veterans court, Pulaski County also serves participants in drug treatment and family services courts. She has worked on and off with the veterans treatment court since it was established and has seen the impact the programs have not only on the offenders themselves but on those around them and the larger community.

Charissa Estes echoes the sentiment. As coordinator for the veterans court, Estes maintains reports of participants’ progress for Kocher and the rest of the team and works with treatment providers and case managers to keep participants on track. She said she witnesses how the program changes the lives not only of participants but also their loved ones.

“You see participants become just much more present for their families,” Estes said. “You see them become better dads. You see them create relationships with people that like broken relationships. You see them stepping into the recovery community and giving back to and building that community.”

Leadership making a difference

Both Lucas and Estes emphasized how integral Kocher has been in propelling the Veterans Treatment Court forward. Therefore, the Mennemeyer award came as no surprise.

“She wants to see her county prospering and reducing these crime numbers,” Estes said. “And she sees that there’s a bigger way to do it outside of the traditional criminal justice way, through the courts.”

That motivates not just participants but court staff, who say they have sought opportunities to serve the county in increasing ways.

Kocher, however, will never take sole credit for the work she’s spearheaded in the county. In fact, she insisted that any photo of her included in this story be one that includes her team, as well.

“I think I have the best team in the state of Indiana,” Kocher said. “I have staff in my office who will go out of their way to help any individual who comes through our program, whether they’re in treatment court or not but specifically our veterans.”

The veterans keep her and her team motivated to continue serving the community. Since the court was established, several current and former participants have stepped up to help one another in their treatment. Hayhurst said he drives roughly 100 miles a day to help others attend recovery meetings in the area.

With 19 graduates in the program so far, Kocher and her team are motivated to keep working to serve Pulaski and surrounding counties.

“I love working with the veterans, and they are such an inspiration to me and really just give all of us on the team incentive to keep working and to keep doing these things,” she said. “They just blow us away with the progress that they make and what they end up doing after they go through our program.”•