Douglas County Behavioral Health Court celebrates 99th graduate under Judge Donovan

The Douglas County Behavioral Health Court marked its 99th graduate under Judge Stacey L. Donovan, a milestone for a specialized court built to help people with mental illness break the cycle of incarceration.

The recognition came as Douglas County took stock of the program’s long arc and the judge who helped shape it. Judge Sally Pokorny’s retirement took effect April 10, 2026, ending nearly 50 years of legal service and closing a decade in which she established and presided over the Behavioral Health Court. At her retirement ceremony, speakers described that court as one of her lasting contributions to the Douglas County legal system.

Pokorny’s departure also marked a transition for the courtroom that has become central to the county’s behavioral health response. Donovan, appointed a Douglas County District Court judge in 2020, has presided over felony criminal cases and conflict Child in Need of Care cases since January 2023. Douglas County’s 7th Judicial District court calendar lists Division 6 as her courtroom.

The 99th graduate gives county residents a concrete measure of how far the court has come since Pokorny helped launch it. The program is designed for people whose legal cases are tied to untreated mental illness, with the goal of steering them away from repeated arrests and jail stays and toward stability in the community. Reaching triple digits in graduates underscores how often the court has been used as an alternative path through the local justice system.

The milestone also arrives with questions that matter to taxpayers, families and court staff alike: how many people complete the program, how many avoid another jail booking, and how much it costs compared with keeping people in custody. The county has now produced 99 graduates, but the larger test is whether those completions translate into lasting treatment access and fewer returns to jail.

For Douglas County, the ceremony under Donovan highlighted both continuity and change. Pokorny built the court and guided it for years; Donovan is now presiding over it as the county measures whether a behavioral health approach can keep more people stable, more often, and out of the jail system.