First DIVERT Interview

I accompanied a client to my first DIVERT interview yesterday at the Probation Center at 49 San Jacinto. I was allowed to walk up to the 4th floor with my client even though there were signs that said attorneys must remain on the first floor. I was allowed to go into the first room to meet with an officer even though there were more signs that said family, friends and ATTORNEYS are not allowed to accompany their client in the meetings or testing process and must wait on the first floor. I wasn’t going to be dissuaded by a mere sign on the wall. I made it a point to demand my way into the process or, as I informed my client, I was going to declare the meeting over and walk out!

The girl behind the window on the 4th floor told my client to go pay here $202 on the 6th floor and come back with a receipt. That took all of 5 minutes. This was going much quicker than I expected so far. A girl then came out of a hallway and told my client to walk right in and follow her. Again, no waiting. I told the girl we were the attorneys (I brought my associate, Tracie Palmer with me) and that we were going to be a part of the meeting. She sort of hesitated and looked almost annoyed but agreed to let us enter. After that, we were welcomed in and given a seat next to my client while she began the 90 question portion of the SALCE evaluation. An interview would be next.

As I was looking over the shoulder of my client to get a glance at the questions, an authoritative woman, named Raymie Hairell-Sweat, walked in our room as if she were looking for us in particular. Well she was. I thought, aha, this is it, here comes the battle, now I can put my foot down, puff my chest and state that we are not leaving or the interview is over. I suspected she was informed about attorneys being on the floor and she was there to direct us out. To my surprise, she introduced herself to us and sat down and asked us if we had any questions. She explained that she understood why we felt that we should be present in the meeting, in order to protect our client’s rights and make sure there were no damning admissions or confession of guilt required during the process. We asked questions for at least 10 minutes and she politely and professionally answered each and every question candidly. Raymie assured me that here and her department’s only interest is finding good candidates for the DIVERT and treatment assessments were their only motivation. She said the only question that would be asked about the case is “What happened?” I pinned her down on that issue and she conceded to me that it is not a “Tell me what happened-how many shots did you do?-how drunk were you?” type of interrogation either. I was very impressed with Raymie. I really had low expectations of the professionalism of the 49 San Jacinto office but she opened my eyes and treated us with respect and gave us courtesies that quite frankly I didn’t think were possible from a somewhat perceived adversarial party.

Raymie informed us that the curfew is not a mandatory requirement across the board, that it will be on a case by case basis. She also explained, which I had heard otherwise, that after 9 months you can request mail in reporting. She did confirm that the interlock would be a requirement across the board for 6 months and that a home breath testing device may be required for people who can’t drive or don’t have a car. The word SCRAM never came up.

Raymie also told us that out of all the programs she has started, including the STAR Court,and the DWI Court, that DIVERT was by far her favorite and she was extremely excites about it. She expressed frustration at how sometimes a person with 30-40 convictions is in the STAR Court and that it is “ a breath of fresh air” to have the DIVERT that can really help someone who is truly a first offender and help those young people who make mistakes.

I had intended to accompany each and every client to their DIVERT SALCE interview but after meeting with Raymie I was put at ease and I feel my presence is not necessary. She scored one more huge point when on our way out she told the interviewing officer that we are very concerned about what questions would be asked of our client and to not go into the details of the case. WOW! I think the rumor mill on the DIVERT has painted a much worse picture of how this program will actually be when executed. I haven’t seen any final evaluations yet and I haven’t seen any proposed plan requirements yet but at this point I was very impressed with Raymie Hairell-Sweat and her ability to run a program with a genuine interest in helping people.

I’ll post again when we get to see the proposal.

Tagged as: DIVERT, DWI Laws, DWI Policy, Harris County DWI