One by one and in quick succession, about 60 homeless people’s lives got a little better during an afternoon last month.

“Thank you, your honor,” a defendant said, shaking hands with San Diego Superior Court Judge Desiree Bruce-Lyle after she dismissed a misdemeanor charge against him.

It was a scene that played out repeatedly that April afternoon in a makeshift courtroom at Veterans Village San Diego, where a tag team of five attorneys ushered clients before the judge to clear charges that had hung over their heads for years, even decades. Most were dismissed in less than 60 seconds.

The rotating homeless court, created 29 years ago and the first of its kind in the nation, is held monthly at either Veterans Village or Father Joe’s Village. The proceedings are largely a formality, with an understanding that clients who make it this far will have fines and charges against them dismissed.


“I was ticketed for smoking at the trolley station in February,” said Charles Frost, a homeless man staying at PATH Connections housing in downtown San Diego for the past three months. “I would have had to pay $280. On a fixed income, that would have been hard. I can rest a little bit easier now.”

While the fines often are relatively small, they can be monumental for people with little or no income. Unpaid fines are turned over to collection agencies, adding an additional $300 fee, and failure to show up for court can result in arrests. The infractions can cause obstacles to finding work, housing and even a driver’s license, compounding the many challenges that already exist for the homeless.

Attorney Steve Binder, who recently retired from the Public Defenders Office, helped create homeless court in 1989 as an alternative to what he saw as a revolving door of citations, arrests, jail sentences and releases back into homelessness.

“Traditionally, cases in court solve the problem, but everybody knew this wasn’t solving anything,” he said.


Public Defender Amy Hoffman received a hug from her client after his misdemeanor charges were dismissed in Homeless Court held at the Veterans Village of San Diego. (Nelvin C. Cepeda )

Binder said he was frustrated at hearing of people sentenced to up to six months and fined $500 for illegal lodging when they had no other place to go. He also heard from homeless people who said they had finally received housing , but were going to lose it because they were in police custody.

“Candidly, the criminal justice system can be an obstacle to people reclaiming their lives,” he said. “If they’re still mired in the criminal justice system, they’re hard-pressed to overcome their homeless problem.”

The idea for homeless court came from a Bar Association’s Local Homeless Subcommittee meeting that was attended by founders of Stand Down, an annual event to help homeless veterans. The founders told attorneys at the meeting that 1 in 5 veterans surveyed at Stand Down said their biggest need was help with outstanding warrants.


Homeless court as introduced in 1989 at Stand Down, where it was held annually for four years, and also was held at the Women’s Resource Fair at the Civic Center in 1990. Binder said 942 homeless veterans had 4,895 cases dropped in the first four years.

The court became open to the general homeless population in 1995, and a grant from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance has allowed it to be held monthly since 1999. The law firm DLA Piper has been providing pro bono help to the court for nine years.

Binder didn’t have exact figures, but said thousands of homeless people have appeared in the court and tens of thousand of charges have been dismissed over the years.

Most keep their records clean after their court appearance. Studies have found the recidivism rate for people having their charges dismissed was 18 percent, Binder said.


Nationwide, homeless courts have been introduced in 70 cities, and one-third of California courthouses have a homeless court.

At the April hearing, a surprising number of people had citations for smoking or other prohibited activities at trolley stations, which attorney Amy Hoffman with the Public Defender’s Office said was not unusual.

“One guy had eight trolley-related tickets,” she said. “He owed $4,200 in fines.”

Some defendants appear in suits, some in shorts or in work clothes. One older man used a walker to approach the judge, and one woman had a 2-month-old baby with her.


The court isn’t for all homeless people. To be eligible, defendants must be in programs and in some type of housing, which for many was Father Joe’s Villages, the San Diego Rescue Mission or PATH Connections Housing.

Christopher Craig Jones, 44, began his stay at Lighthouse Treatment Center in November, two months after being released from prison.

Attorney Amy Hoffman received a hug from her client after his misdemeanor charges were dismissed in Homeless Court held at the Veterans Village of San Diego. (Nelvin C. Cepeda )

“My whole life, I’ve been in and out of prison and jail, only because I didn’t think I had any options,” he said. “I’ve changed my entire life.”


Jones was in court to have two citations resolved, which together would have cost him $1,000. One was for riding a bicycle on a sidewalk in 1995, and he didn’t remember what the other was for.

“I’ve never had a driver’s license,” he said about how the outstanding bicycle ticket had affected his life for more than two decades. “And now I’ll be able to get one.”

Jones said having a driver’s license will help him find work and stay out of jail.

“This is the first time in my life I’m doing everything completely legal,” he said. “Before, I would drive, but I knew as soon as I was pulled over, I was going to jail.”


Steven Sanders, 46, is in an alcoholism recovery program at Veterans Village of San Diego and appeared in court to clear a community service sentence related to a 2013 DUI conviction.

“When I got to VVSD, I had a lot of things on my plate,” he said. “Going to the program itself is stressful. I was worried. How can I fit in my community service while doing classes at VVSD?”

Sanders said he couldn’t believe he had an opportunity to clear the sentence so he could focus on his recovery. “It really helps me out in moving forward,” he said. “It’s one less thing I have to worry about.”

As the judge who presides over homeless court, Bruce-Lyle said helping people get their lives back on track is gratifying. She also said that outside of homeless court, judges don’t often get handshakes and hugs from defendants.


“Anything that changes somebody’s life for the better is a positive,” she said. “Life in the justice system isn’t all about locking people up and punishing people. This is a fine example of that. It’s about making a difference in people’s lives.”


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gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @GaryWarthUT


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