Judge Matyas left her mark with treatment court

Jun. 13—The young man had become a terror. He would slip into schizophrenic episodes, damage property, create traffic hazards. He was a familiar presence in Circuit Court.

"And we said, 'Hey, we need to start a mental health court — now,'" Judge Cindee Matyas recalled.

Founded by Matyas in 2009, the mental health court, now called treatment court, seeks to reduce recidivism and divert people from a life in the criminal justice system.

Matyas will retire this month after more than 15 years on the bench.

Gov. Kate Brown will appoint her replacement. The candidates are Senior Deputy District Attorney Scott McCracken, Astoria defense attorney Kirk Wintermute and Seaside attorney A.J. Wahl.

Elected in 2006, Matyas is serving her third six-year term. She will continue to cover the court until the vacancy is filled. The next election for the seat takes place in 2024.

Matyas presides over the mental health treatment court and adult drug court. She also led the child support court, which has been suspended during the coronavirus pandemic.

Her treatment court is for offenders with chronic mental health issues — perhaps an illness or disorder, brain trauma or developmental disability — who don't qualify for involuntarily commitment. Drugs and alcohol may have induced or worsened their condition.

Participants attend weekly court hearings and work with treatment providers. A team counsels them on staying sober, taking medications, addressing their health, getting housed, looking for work, managing their finances, possibly pursuing their education and other recovery skills.

The idea had been on Matyas' mind since her first campaign. Other Oregon counties had set up mental health courts, and advocates had urged Matyas to start one.

Darla Aho, Matyas' judicial assistant, estimates that an average of four people graduate every year from treatment court.

Matyas is also involved in a statewide committee that looks at the intersection of behavioral health and criminal justice.

"We know her as a star in your own community, but we as a state recognize her as a star in our statewide system," Martha Walters, the chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, said at the investiture this month for Circuit Court Judge Beau Peterson.

Hardest to shake off

Before becoming a Circuit Court judge, Matyas served as the county's chief deputy district attorney and as a Municipal Court judge. She also ran a private practice.

At the Circuit Court, Matyas has presided over some of the North Coast's most high-profile criminal cases.

In 2016, she sentenced Jessica Smith, the Goldendale, Washington, woman who drugged and drowned her toddler and slashed her older daughter at a Cannon Beach hotel. In 2019, she oversaw the trial of a couple who beat a Newport man to death, stole his RV and dumped his body off U.S. Highway 30.

The cases involving injuries and sex abuse — the ones where the victim is still alive — are the hardest to shake off. "Those are the tough ones," the judge said, "because that pain and suffering is right there."

Matyas said she won't miss witnessing "the petty, angry, mean, hateful, evil things people do to each other." Or the divorces "where even the dog isn't spared," Aho added.

But she will miss being part of a system that helps people as they get married or divorced, adopt kids, settle lawsuits or put a criminal case behind them. "You're helping people move things along," Matyas said, "and it feels like really important work to help people resolve their issues."

Judge Dawn McIntosh, the presiding judge of the Circuit Court, said, "It is going to be difficult to replace the knowledge that she has, particularly the relationships she's developed and the systems she's put in place to address really significant problems within our community and through the court system."

Matyas and McIntosh served with former presiding Judge Paula Brownhill. For a time, Clatsop County had the only court in Oregon whose judges were all women. Brownhill retired in 2019.

When Matyas announced her retirement, McIntosh said, "I'm absolutely going to miss her. We all will."

As a prosecutor, Matyas remembers being yelled at by judges in courtrooms and in their chambers. "I didn't want to be that kind of a judge," she said.

Matyas is known for her kindness and patience. She speaks with the bright, encouraging tone of a schoolteacher. She wants her courtroom to be a comfortable setting for people, victims and offenders, trapped in fight-or-flight. She wants them to feel supported by the system rather than ripped apart by it, she said.

The late local attorney Pat Lavis advised her: "Leave people with something. Even if you take everything away, leave them with something — either their self-respect or their integrity or something. You may not be able to give them the answer they want, but don't take everything away from them," she said.

District Attorney Ron Brown said Matyas' retirement represents a big loss. "You don't run into too many more conscientious people than her," he said.

'You Did It!'

Earlier this month, Matyas' courtroom hosted a graduation for three treatment court participants. The event marked the end of their probation. A banner with "CONGRATS GRAD" hung from the bench. The space was filled with graduation cap and diploma decorations and other festooning.

One graduate was Kayla Heinzman. Years ago, when she was living in the Columbia Gorge area, her grandfather asked the police to check on her; he hadn't heard from her in a while. She was found wandering the street in a drug-deranged state. Her time in treatment court began in January 2020; her recovery spanned the pandemic.

When it was Heinzman's turn to be recognized by the treatment court team, Wintermute told her, "I was worried for you, honestly. You were in a dark place."

Heinzman joined Matyas at a podium in the well of the courtroom and thanked the team for helping her and her fellow alums: "It gave (us) a chance to learn and a place to grow."

Heinzman had 499 days of continuous documented sobriety. She has a job and lives in a sober living house. She wants to become a mentor for the program.

Matyas presented Heinzman with certificates, including a "You Did It!" award for embracing her independence. As the judge listed her achievements, Heinzman leaned over to Matyas and hugged her.