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Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Ind. Courts - "On graduation day, a diploma and a cleared criminal record"
Daniel Human of the Gary Post-Tribune reports today in a story that begins:
As Rachel Love walked up to a woman clad in black robes to collect her diploma Monday, the Valparaiso resident received something else beyond the standard graduation fare -- a cleared criminal charge and a second chance.Judge Julia Jent embraced Love with a hug as she presented her with a diploma at the Porter County Drug Court graduation.
Jent said she couldn't find the original mug shot of now 21-year-old Love from before she entered the program 15 months ago, but the judge doted on the graduate, saying how her eyes were once sunken from drug abuse.
"(I enrolled in Drug Court) so pretty much my life wouldn't be destroyed by a felony," Love said.
Before her family put her in the program, she said, she faced a theft charge. After graduating and having her felony charge cleared, she plans to continue her education at Indiana University Northwest and receive a degree in criminal justice.
The ceremony celebrated 14 others who moved up to the next phase in the three-tiered program.
Drug Court is a rehabilitation program, funded mostly by the Indiana Department of Correction, that puts its applicants through three phases.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 10, 2008 09:29 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts