Fayetteville, North Carolina: An empathetic judge knew that Sgt. Joseph Serna was going through his own trials and tribulations while fighting to stay sober. Serna had been before Judge Olivera about 25 times to update his status. This time he admitted to Olivera that he wasn’t honest about his last urinalysis.

The result was that Olivera sentenced Sgt. Serna to 24 hours in jail. So the judge himself gave him a lift to the jail in the next county.

The judge said “When Joe first came to turn himself in, he was trembling, I decided that I’d spend the night serving with him.”

Serna asked while getting into the car, “Where are we going, judge?”

“We’re going to turn ourselves in,” the judge said.

While Serna was sitting down on the thin mattress in the jail cell, he heard the iron-barred door slide open another time, he looked up and to his amazement he saw the judge standing in front of him again. Olivera took a seat right next to him as a jailer closed the door and locked it.

Serna said “This was a one-man cell so we sat on the bunk and I said, ‘You are here for the entire time with me?’” “He said, ‘Yeah that’s what I am doing.’”

Olivera, a veteran himself worried that leaving Serna by himself overnight could possibly trigger his PTSD. The men who were now as equal as ever inside this jail cell spent the majority of their time exchanging life stories. Serna said “It was more of a father-son conversation. It was personal.” Judge Olivera’s Facebook

Olivera said, “They have worn the uniform and we know they can be contributing members of society, we just want to get them back there.”

Since Serna has returned from overseas he has struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder, and was charged with driving under the influence. He’s voluntarily entered the veteran’s treatment program and will be kept an eye on by the compassionate District Court Judge Lou Olivera. Source