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{"id":772,"date":"2011-07-18T21:37:15","date_gmt":"2011-07-18T21:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/diaryofawimpycatholic\/?p=772"},"modified":"2015-03-13T15:04:39","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T21:04:39","slug":"a-second-chance-for-ptsd-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/diaryofawimpycatholic\/2011\/07\/a-second-chance-for-ptsd-patients\/","title":{"rendered":"A Second Chance for PTSD Patients"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Arrested with the help of a Tazer, Eifert was charged initially with trying to murder the nine arresting officers. But then his case came to the attention of David Jordon, an Ingham County District Court judge. Well informed on PTSD and its effects, Jordon had started a veterans\u2019 court in East Lansing, where veterans\u2018 \u201chave a chance to avoid jail by meeting a set of rigorous criteria.\u201d Eifert\u2019s actions impressed him as an attempt at \u201csuicide by cop\u201d \u2014 that is, in Jordon\u2019s view, Eifert wanted the cops to kill him instead of the reverse. <\/p>\n

Since Jordon\u2019s veterans\u2019 court rejects cases involving allegations of violence, Eifert\u2019s defense attorney, prevailed on prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III to reduce the charges. Initially reluctant, Dunnings was eventually swayed by Eifert\u2019s well-documented and unsuccessful search for relief from his PTSD symptoms. Finally, he allowed Eifert to plead guilty to a single count of carrying a weapon with unlawful intent \u2014 a felony. <\/p>\n

On August 2, Eifert will enter the veterans\u2019 court program. According to the Times:<\/i> \u201cTwelve to 18 months from now, if he adheres to the strict regimen of treatment through the Veterans Affairs hospital in Battle Creek and supervision set by the court, the charge could be dismissed or reduced to a misdemeanor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Times<\/i> quotes a Missouri prosecutor as saying that complaints, or even a plausible diagnosis, of PTSD shouldn\u2019t amount to a \u201cget out of jail free\u201d card, and he\u2019s obviously right. Veterans suffering from PTSD have committed some unquestionably ghastly acts. This past February,<\/strong><\/a> a 23-year-old Iraq War veteran named Robert Hull Marko was found guilty of slitting the throat of a woman he\u2019d met over the internet. Marko also pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual assault on a child. To put it mildly, these types of offenses can\u2019t possibly be overlooked or excused.<\/p>\n

But everyone connected with the Eifert case seems to be behaving very responsibly. The prosecutor regarded pleas for leniency with a healthy skepticism. He reduced the charges only with the consent of the victims \u2014 the police officers, who, after all, were not hurt. One quoted by the Times,<\/i> Officer John Free, seems to have agreed without reservation, explaining, \u201cThere\u2019s a difference between somebody who\u2019s a criminal and someone who\u2019s just in a perfect storm of things going wrong.\u201d <\/p>\n

At various times, both Eifert and Marko had been stattioned at Ft. Carson, Colorado, which gained notoriety<\/a> for the rate at which its soldiers violated the public peace. Between 2005 and 2008, Fr. Carson soldiers were involved in 10 murders and three attempted murders. In November of 2008, a 24-man team compiled this report<\/strong><\/a> on the outbreak of violence. Without positing any causal relationships, the report considers numerous factors \u2014 including soldiers\u2019 pre-enlistment criminal histories, drug and alcohol abuse, exposure to combat and barriers to seeking psychiatric treatment. It\u2019s a sobering testament to just how many ingredients can go into creating the \u201cperfect storm\u201d Officer Free spoke of.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"