Judge Will mandated violent felon Mark Criswell to AA Meetings and probation. No jail time. After the severe beating of a man during Biketoberfest, this man gets the AA get out of jail card!
Did Judge Will offer Mark Criswell a secular option? Does not sound like it. This is a violation of the constitution.
When Kenneth Wilkinson, 22 was a minor he was mandated to Alcoholics Anonymous for 60 days. With the court not allowing him to drive until he was 21 also put pressure on the youth. How do you get to 60 AA Meetings when you can’t drive?
For reasons unknown, this man dragged his 84 year old grandfather who had Alzheimer’s, behind his truck for 6 miles to his death. One can’t help but feel that maybe sending a minor to AA meetings was NOT what this boy needed. He did not go to all of the AA meetings. Most minors do not feel comfortable with the message of powerlessness, or the fact that most participants are much older. Yet some courts are sending minors to AA and NA meetings, even though they have no meetings specifically for them.
Willits man charged with murder appears in court
By TIFFANY REVELLE The Daily Journal
Updated: 03/21/2012 02:11:59 PM PDT
Kenneth Wilkinson, 22, was in Mendocino County Superior Court today to be arraigned on a murder charge and a special allegation that he tortured his grandfather, Richard Mel Wilkinson, 84. Reliable sources said Tuesday that the younger Wilkinson allegedly killed his grandfather by dragging him behind a truck for nearly six miles Saturday night while left to care for him for a few hours, possibly in a drug-induced psychosis. “He’s not a violent person,” Kenneth Wilkinson’s mother, Kris Pearce, said outside the courtroom Wednesday while waiting for the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department to transport her son from county jail for his court appearance. “This is completely out of character for him.” Public Defender Linda Thompson took the case and said she needed a week to prepare for the young man’s arraignment, which was rescheduled for 8:30 a.m. March 29 in courtroom A. He remains at the jail under a no-bail hold in the meantime.
Pearce said her son had never been diagnosed with a mental illness but had struggled emotionally throughout his life, having been picked on at school as the “skinny kid.” As an adult, he had a drug and alcohol problem, but said his drinking wasn’t heavy, according to Pearce.
Kenneth had been in court in 2008 for an allegation that he had possessed alcohol as a minor, and had been put on a deferred judgment plan. The arrangement meant the charge would be dropped on the condition that he attend 60 days of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings
in the year’s length of the plan, but according to the Mendocino County Superior Court, he didn’t comply. Pearce said that sent him into a “vicious cycle,” where he could not get a driver’s license until he was 21, making it hard for him to get a job and take care of his court obligations.
http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_20223569/man-accused-killing-grandfather-court
AA member Nicole Pietz, was 8 years sober when she was brtually murdered 5 years ago. Her Husband was arrested for 2nd degree
Husband of Nicole Pietz charged with second-degree murder
By KOMO Staff Published: Mar 21, 2012
SEATTLE — Prosecutors have charged the husband of murder victim Nicole Pietz more than five years after her death. Martin “David” Piez has been charged with second-degree murder. He is being held on $1 million bail.
The 33-year-old Lynnwood woman disappeared in Jan. 28, 2006 after leaving home. A week later, a hiker found her body in Burien, dumped in a field of overgrown blackberry bushes. Two weeks later, her car was discovered at a parking lot in Seattle’s University District.An autopsy revealed Nicole Pietz had been strangled, but her killer was never found.
David Pietz, who was the last person to see his wife alive, had said that when he woke up around 8:20 a.m. on Jan. 28, 2006, his wife had already left. But forensic evidence showed Nicole Pietz likely died around midnight the morning of Jan. 28 — a time when David Pietz claimed his wife was asleep in their bed, investigators said.
David Pietz also failed a polygraph test, and when detectives asked him to retake the test, he refused and hired an attorney. A search of Nicole Pietz’s car turned up DNA evidence belonging to both David Pietz and his wife, “but Nicole’s DNA was in very small quantities, while the defendant’s DNA was in much greater quantities,” investigators wrote.
The couple had financial problems and the marriage was “in some degree of turmoil,” the document said, adding David Pietz had extramarital affairs and tried to get other women to join him and his wife in bed.
Detectives added David Pietz had conducted an Internet search on his computer for swinger’s clubs as well as ways to cheat on one’s spouse. And just weeks after his wife’s death, he began looking for phone numbers of women to date.
The victim’s mother, Gael Schneider, said news of the arrest brought her tremendous relief.
“I can’t even tell you, I’m so elated,” she said. “My stomach was just like it has bees in it. And (I was) thanking God over and over, and over for finally granting this prayer to me.”
snip
Nicole Pietz’s body was found without the wedding ring she always wore, her mother said. There was nothing under her nails indicating a struggle, and she was wearing the night guard she wore to bed. Schneider added her daughter was headed to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
“I don’t think she’d be wearing a night guard going to her 8-year sobriety meeting,” said Schneider. “She would have been dressed to kill.”
“When I heard about all his affairs and just the way he had been treating her in public…and Nicci was going for her 8-year sobriety coin the next year, but he was always suggesting they go to places where there was alcohol, which made her crazy,” she said.
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Nicole-Pietz-143687986.html
Confirmation of the belief that there is no need to label our teens as addicts for life with a life long disease. It is refreshing to see more research to continue to confirm this. Alcoholics Anonymous is detrimental to teens and sends them a very negative message of powerlessness.They insist they conform to the pagan religion of Alcoholics Anonymous. It is unhealthy, and also Alcoholics Anonymous, including Narcotics Anonymous is a very dangerous place for teenagers as well.
The Judicial system is mandating violent criminals and sexual offenders in droves to AA/NA/CA, this includes Young Peoples Meetings. ICYPPA is for a younger crowd, but people go there into their 40’s. There are no safety regulations like Alateen has, which is a group for teens that are dealing with family with alcohol problems. Alateen is not designed for teens WITH alcohol problems.
Your 16 Year-Old Is Not An Addict For Life: Research Says
PRWeb – Mon, Mar 19, 2012
Contrary to what most Americans in our society think, a teen who loses their way, possibly getting arrested for drinking under-age, or driving under the influence (DUI) is automatically labeled an alcoholic in need of alcohol rehab or treatment for life. Unlike traditional alcohol rehab programs, the Saint Jude Program begs to differ on labeling teens with a “disease” or “addiction.”
Amsterdam, NY (PRWEB) March 19, 2012
Saint Jude Retreats along with other researchers around the country have found Alcohol Anonymous (AA) to be more ineffective than helpful to young adults who have a substance use problem. AA is an alcohol treatment program that a convicted DUI offender normally must complete to regain their license. The courts use AA attendance to prove that the individual in question is no longer a danger to society or to themselves. However, research has determined that Alcohol Anonymous actually hinders a user’s sobriety after AA meeting attendance is completed and increases their chances of continuing substance use. How? By labeling a person with a false “disease” and or “addiction,” it creates a sense of hopelessness, and in a teenager this is detrimental to their personal growth and self-esteem.
Saint Jude Retreats is diligent about increasing awareness about conventional alcohol treatment centers to a parent whose young teen has fallen into some trouble with alcohol or drug use. In the United States, if a teen is convicted of drunk driving the first step they must undergo is an evaluation to determine their amount of alcohol they have consumed₁. According to state laws, drivers must then go through another evaluation to determine if their alcohol consumption is considered alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence₁. Then young adults are most likely enforced to enroll in an alcohol treatment center such as AA attendance or a long term treatment center.
Conventional drug and alcohol treatment centers focus on a negative-based approach to help someone overcome their substance use such as telling a client they are doomed for life, cannot become a normal part of society, are disease-stricken for their rest of their life and unfortunately much more₂. In stark contrast, for over 20 years, the St. Jude Program has taught teens how to turn their lives around and gain control of their actions and become responsible for the consequences of their choices.
Of course the Saint Jude Retreats does not in any way condone drunk driving, but they also do not label someone an addict or alcohol dependent who made one mistake in their life. Dr. Stanton Peele, an endorser of Saint Jude Retreats asserts that, “Many traditional treatment programs follow through with approaches that are really abusive altogether.” Peele adds, “can anyone really say that a 15 year-old (or 18, or 21, or 24-year-old) is an addict for life? If the young person questions such a designation, what happens next? They are assailed for their false beliefs, they are in denial. And all they are really saying is, ‘I have more belief in, and hope for myself, than what your program permits me to have’.” Co-founder and Chairman of St. Jude Retreats, Mark Scheeren adds, “The St. Jude Retreats have always believed in and supported the fact that the individuals can and do overcome substance use problems for good.”
About Saint Jude Retreats: Saint Jude Retreats (http://www.soberforever.net) is a drug and alcohol social education center headquartered in Amsterdam, New York. It is an effective alternative to alcohol rehab and drug treatment centers. Saint Jude Retreats has been helping people overcome alcohol and substance use through Cognitive Behavioral EducationSM (CBE) since opening its doors in 1992. CBE and the Saint Jude Retreats program are endorsed by alcohol and drug program internationally acclaimed professionals, such as Dr. Stanton Peele, PhD, Prof. Emeritus David Hanson, PhD; Prof. David Rudy, PhD; Dr. Joy Browne and the late Joseph Vacca, PhD, among others.
Melissa Kluska
Saint Jude Retreats
518-842-3052 122
Email Information
http://news.yahoo.com/16-old-not-addict-life-research-says-172817589.html
This is confirmation of the growing number of Mental Health Courts and Drug Courts that are sending their seriously mentally ill, suicidal offenders to a Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meeting near you! Mandating the mentally ill patients to 12 step programs that dont like therapists and tell many participants not to take their meds. Wow,that sounds like a swell idea! Let’s not forget how proud AA/NA/CA is that they are forever non-professionals. AA likes to call their unique demographics that are made up of violent felons, sexual predators, serial rapists, murders and the seriously mentally ill ( many whom are suicidal), a wonderful place to encourage teenagers and younger minors to come join!
AA is famous for stating that the meetings are just a microcosm of society. Let me tell you-they are completely WRONG!!!!!! Actually AA meetings are a microcosm of AA/NA period, and the people who run them around the country. AA/NA meetings are a dangerous place for minors and other vulnerable people.
12 Step programs designed for people whose problems are primarily substance abuse are generally not recommended for people who also have a mental illness. These programs tend to be confrontive and coercive and most people with severe mental illnesses are too fragile to benefit from them. Heavy confrontation, intense emotional jolting, and discouragement of the use of medications tend to be detrimental. These treatments may produce levels of stress that exacerbate symptoms or cause relapse.
An afternoon in the biweekly mental-health courtroom of Washington County Judge Marco Hernandez in Hillsboro. The scene in court includes, left to right, Jeff MacLean, deputy district attorney; Joe Simich, probation officer; Rebecca Blaney, public defender; and a client reporting to Judge Hernandez.
Washington County Oregon At the start of a recent Mental Health Court session, the 50-year-old judge tells the crowd he shredded his ankle his first time snowboarding. One of the defendants, diagnosed as a bipolar alcoholic, says falling is the best part and volunteers to teach the judge how to do it right.
Another time, a meth addict with a bipolar diagnosis says she is discouraged that her theft conviction keeps her from getting a decent job.
“I started out washing dishes and I was a janitor,” Hernandez barks, waving his arm as the defendants laugh. “I went all the way through college, and my first job was a maid! What’s up with that? A four-year degree and I’m a maid!”
Hernandez leads Mental Health Court as part inspirational speaker, part compassionate confessor, part stern uncle.
The banter puts the mentally ill defendants at ease. Hernandez shows he believes in them and trusts them. In turn, they don’t want to disappoint.
The rapport between judge and defendants, along with intense supervision and hard work by a team of court, corrections and mental health staff, has helped the special court navigate the ups and downs of its first year.
“So, what’s going on?” the judge asks a big man who has schizophrenia and a cocaine addiction. Earlier, Hernandez sent the man to jail on a probation violation.
“I’m doing the classes, I’m out of jail, I’m sleeping in the Coop every night,” the man says, referring to a Luke-Dorf Inc. group home for mentally ill substance abusers. “I’m going to classes. I’m observing the rules every night.”
Progress can be uneven
The Washington County team struggles to deal with the breakdowns that can haunt the mentally ill.
One woman died from a heroin overdose. Some participants attempt suicide, abuse alcohol or use illicit drugs. Some miss appointments and classes. Every session, the judge metes out jail time or community service to those who slip up.
“I’m not messing around,” Hernandez bluntly tells a man who left the Coop and was caught using drugs. “We had a deal. I’ve gone way out of my way to help you out on this, but you aren’t doing your part.”
Hernandez and Simich say they have learned to look at how far the participants have come, not how far they have to go.
One woman with a bipolar diagnosis used to be hospitalized several times a week, threatening suicide. Since she’s been coming to Mental Health Court — and since Hernandez sent her to jail for 90 days for using meth again –“we broke her of that and she did well for a while,” Simich says.
Heather Wiegele, 30, who was diagnosed as bipolar at age 13, was convicted of drunken driving and skipped out on her probation. She says she appreciates that Hernandez, who told her she had to comply or go to jail, is tough but fair. Clean and sober for 7-1/2 months, Wiegele asked Hernandez during court in February if she could move to Arizona to be closer to family. The judge conferred with the rest of the team and said she needed to get a job and finish the program here.
“When she came in last year, I thought she was going to die, she was literally shaking,” Hernandez explains later.
A couple of weeks after she professed she was ready to leave, Wiegele’s depression got the best of her. She drank, took 60 of her anti-anxiety pills and ended up in the hospital. Now she’s back in Mental Health Court and attending extra Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. She has a landscaping job and has moved into the Coop.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/03/court_of_hope.html
Juvenile Justice Participants Mandated to Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and Cocaine Anonymous.
Does the Drug Treatment Court Program have special conditions?
Yes. To finish the program, the minor must:
http://www.scscourt.org/self_help/juvenile/jjustice/special_courts.shtml
Now after one reads this article, one is left with more questions than answers about the internal affairs of Holly Hill PD. Rommel Scalf had numerous previous complaints over excessive force using a taser gun. Instead of firing him for so many infractions he was instead given a desk job by then Commander Mark Barker, to head the Crime Prevention Community Relations Department. This included the ‘ Explorers’ , a youth group learning about police work. Barker is quoted as saying he ” thrived” in that position. That is until he used excessive force again with a taser gun he was not even allowed to have.
This story is not just a reflection on Rommel Scalf behavior. It draws a bigger picture of of the inner workings and mindset of the top brass in the Holly Hill Police Department. You certainly come away from the article feeling like there were many standards of professionalism not followed at the department for quite some time. I doubt Scalf thought he would even lose his job over it, but it did catch up with him.
This information was suppressed involving Janet Hawkins and Scalf during her trial when he arrested her. Holly Hill was withholding evidence to protect there own as long as they could.
Officer quits after Taser misuse
April 29 th 2011
HOLLY HILL — The Holly Hill policeman who scuffled with a Daytona Beach detective he arrested resigned after a string of incidents in which he misused a Taser, according to documents obtained this week.
In the latest incident, former officer Rommel Scalf pressed the trigger of his supervisor’s Taser — while it was still in the corporal’s hand — stunning a domestic violence suspect. But Scalf was not supposed to handle that weapon. Misuse of his Taser in other incidents prompted his supervisors to prohibit him from carrying one, according to Scalf’s internal affairs file.
Scalf, a 13-year Holly Hill officer, shot suspect Troy Foster the first time on a February afternoon. Following that, Scalf yelled for someone to give him a Taser and he shot Foster once in the side and again in the back while the handcuffed man was being led away by another officer, an internal affairs report shows.
Besides shooting a handcuffed suspect three times, Scalf also placed one of his colleagues in danger, the report shows.
Scalf, who resigned from Holly Hill police on March 17, declined comment for this article. But news of his resignation surfaced last week during the one-day trial of former Daytona Beach detective Janet Hawkins. Scalf arrested Hawkins on Sept. 22, 2009, at a traffic stop. Hawkins, 47, is awaiting sentencing on a charge of resisting without violence, a misdemeanor.
Testimony at the Hawkins trial and an internal affairs file at Holly Hill police revealed that the 45-year-old Scalf was not permitted to carry a Taser because of complaints about his use of force in the past.
In 2007, according to his internal affairs file, Scalf deployed his Taser 16 times. After that then-Police chief Don Shinnamon wanted him monitored closely, the internal affairs file shows.
In early 2008, Scalf met with trouble again, however.
On Jan. 12, Scalf blasted a handcuffed suspect with his Taser while the man sat in a patrol car. Scalf also kicked the man and punched him in the abdomen, his internal affairs file shows.
That incident prompted Police Chief Mark Barker — who was a commander at the time — to strip Scalf of his Taser-carrying privilege.
Shortly thereafter, Scalf was placed in the police department’s Crime Prevention Community Relations division, where Barker said Scalf “thrived.”
Then, on Feb. 28, police received the domestic violence call at the Foster residence on 10th Street.
Scalf responded as a backup officer for Cpl. Jeff Traylor — Scalf’s supervisor on that call — Cpl. Chris Yates and Officer Jason Weiss.
When police arrived at Foster’s home, he had bolted after striking his girlfriend on the chest. The suspect returned to the house then ran back out and Scalf gave chase. As Scalf ran, he tripped on some vegetation and cut his face when he hit the ground. Foster then ran into his home and locked himself in a bathroom.
That’s when Scalf — according to the internal affairs investigation — lost it.
He yelled at Traylor — his supervisor — to “kick in the door,” the report shows. Before the door was opened, Scalf yelled “When you see that mother (expletive deleted) shoot him!”
When the door opened, Foster was not violent; he verbally resisted when Traylor tried to handcuff him. At that Scalf yelled at Traylor: “Shoot that mother (expletive deleted) Jeff!” Traylor pointed his weapon at Foster as he assessed the situation, the report says. But that enraged Scalf even more, the report shows. He then yelled an obscenity at his supervisor.
At that point, Scalf advanced toward Traylor and pulled the trigger on Traylor’s Taser, the internal affairs report shows. A barb penetrated Foster’s torso, the report shows. As the suspect was handcuffed and being led away by Yates, Scalf yelled, “Someone give me a Taser!”
The officer who was leading Foster to the patrol car had to move to avoid getting struck by the Taser’s barb, the report shows.
At the time none of the officers at the scene knew Scalf was not supposed to have a Taser, the report says. It’s not clear whether one of the officers handed him the weapon or Scalf grabbed it, but Scalf was able to shoot Foster in the side as he walked away with Yates.
When Foster suddenly stopped, Scalf shot him again, this time striking him in the back, the report shows.
The officers who witnessed Scalf’s actions were stunned, the report says.
“It appeared to other officers and supervisors present that Officer Scalf was out of control, emotionally unstable and highly agitated during the encounter,” the report says. “His use of the term ‘Shoot that mother (expletive deleted)’ escalated an already tense situation.”
Barker said his officers are supposed to deploy their Tasers only when a person physically resists an officer’s commands.
While he said Scalf was “highly intelligent” and had received several commendations throughout his career with the department, Barker also said he cannot tolerate such behavior.
“His conduct at the scene that day was obviously unacceptable,” Barker said this week.