It was standing room only in County Court No. 15 on Tuesday. But the audience was not there to witness a trial, verdict or sentencing. Instead, they applauded the first cohort of graduates from a new program designed to dismiss criminal charges against people experiencing homelessness and set them on a path toward stable housing and recovery.
The room erupted in applause for each of the three graduates as Judge Melissa Vara, who oversees the new Bexar County Community Court, and representatives from the District Attorney’s Office presented them with their diplomas, a copy of their respective dismissals and an oversized, aged metal key. A fourth graduate was unable to attend the ceremony due to a work schedule conflict.
“The key is intended to symbolize opening the door to the next steps, whether that’s housing, employment, education — whatever that might be,” said Matthew Howard, director of the office’s Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU).
“I’m going to call it the key to life,” John Henry Smith Jr., 66, told the San Antonio Report after his graduation ceremony.
Smith, a Georgia native and Marine Corps veteran, found himself at the Dave Coy Salvation Army shelter for men last year after his landlord increased his rent and he was unable to pay.
He was eventually accepted into the shelter at Haven for Hope, but was charged with trespassing and low-level theft in the meantime. A social worker with the City of San Antonio’s Department of Human Services connected Smith to the Community Court, which allowed him to avoid paying fees and a criminal record that could prevent him from obtaining federal housing assistance.
“They told me: Just keep my nose clean, don’t get in trouble, and you’ll get through the program,” he said.
Six months later, he’s living in an apartment complex for seniors thanks to a housing voucher.
“It’s quiet,” he said of his apartment. “I’ve met a couple of people since I’ve been there — nice people. … Imma just ride along where I’m at now.”
Stemming a ‘self-perpetuating cycle‘
The Bexar County Community Court, which opened in March, is an expansion of other pre-trial diversion courts for the unhoused population. The Community Court within the municipal court, which started about one year ago, handles unhoused individuals who receive class C misdemeanors, which are the lowest offenses. Bexar County Justices of the Peace — which handle eviction and small claims cases — also has pre-trial diversion options for people experiencing homelessness.
Bexar County’s Community Court handles class A and B misdemeanors — which for the unhoused population often includes trespassing, shoplifting, camping and loitering — as well as some felonies on “case-by-case” basis, Howard said.
“The [charges] that we that we tend to see more of are the ones that are … just for existing in a space,” he said. “These people are being arrested for offenses that can be tied directly to the fact that they’re experiencing homelessness.”
The collateral consequence of these convictions, such as being disqualified for housing, “creates this self-perpetuating cycle: This person is criminally trespassing because they have nowhere to go. And they have nowhere to go because they’ve got a conviction for criminal trespass,” Howard said.
People experiencing homelessness are often charged with crimes for seeking out basic necessities, said county attorney Lauren Zamora, who co-founded and operates the Bexar County Community Court with Howard. “They’re trying to get food or clothing or even sometimes just toiletry products and things like that.”
Rather than put them in jail for a few days and leave them with a criminal record, the new protocol allows them to show to the court that they are working to stabilize their lives, she said.
And that looks different for everyone, Howard said. “Every individual going through the court is different [because] everyone has different capacities and capabilities.”
‘They did the work’
While the CIU’s Second Chance for Success program helps individuals get their criminal records expunged, the Community Court intervenes before a conviction even gets on their record.
Typically, it takes about six months to graduate and receive a case dismissal, but it could take less or more time, Howard said.
The program currently has two different tracks: one for those who have mental health and substance abuse issues and another for those who do not. Howard and Zamora anticipate they could accommodate a maximum of 40 defendants per track at a time.
A third track for veterans is being developed based on Smith’s experience.
Much of the programming and terms of the pre-trial diversion contract were guided by community-based organizations such as SAMMinistries and Haven for Hope, Howard said. Participants who volunteer to work at the shelters where they live are given credit for community service hours. Taking financial literacy or anti-theft courses at those facilities also counts toward graduation.
During the graduation ceremony, Assistant Public Defender Steven Gilmore explained that the Community Court only works because these defendants experiencing homelessness want to get out of the cycle.
“Ultimately, our graduates did the work, we just gave them the right phone numbers,” Gilmore said. “All we did was ferry them to success. They did the work. They did everything to get here today. So I’m very proud of each of them.”
Judge Vara said she hopes the court can expand in the future to serve more defendants experiencing homelessness.
“We don’t have the funding and the staffing that a lot of the other specialty courts have yet [but] we’re hoping that as we continue to grow, we’ll get that,” she said. “So it truly is a grassroots effort. [It’s] the concept of ‘it takes a village,’ for us all working together to make this a success.”
