Pre-service crimes often go uncited when vets claim PTSD
By Russell Carollo | Sacramento Bee
Lance Cpl. Roel Ryan Briones saw the horrors of the Iraq war firsthand, including the site where his fellow Marines allegedly killed 24 women, children and other civilians at Haditha.

So when he returned to Kings County, Calif., got drunk and drove a stolen pickup into someone’s living room, family and friends blamed the psychological effects of war, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

His crime, like others committed by returning war veterans, caught the attention — and sympathies — of lawmakers and veterans groups. California passed legislation in 2006, and at least four other states have drafted or considered laws to empower judges to send these veterans to treatment in lieu of prison because their crimes may be the byproduct of war.

But a yearlong examination found that veterans sometimes had criminal records and other questionable backgrounds before enlistment, and experts said that since crime is not a typical symptom of PTSD, their subsequent crimes more likely were a product of their backgrounds than of the war.

"It's an excuse, the way I see it," said Catherine Casey, whose 16-year-old daughter was killed in 2006 by another former California-based Marine driving drunk in Minnesota. "To use it as a crutch or an excuse for our behavior is, as far as I'm concerned, unacceptable."

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/4413...