On behalf of the Office of the Fredericksburg Commonwealth’s Attorney, I am honored to announce that a new specialty docket, the Fredericksburg Therapeutic Docket, has received authorization to begin operation in the General District Court of the City of Fredericksburg.
On Friday, June 13, 2025, the Behavioral Health Docket Advisory Committee, acting under the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia, advised the FTD planning team that we have received unanimous approval to begin operation after rigorous planning and training.
This new specialty docket focuses on misdemeanor offenses where the defendant has serious mental illness. The docket is the first specialty docket in a district court at the misdemeanor level and will provide earlier interventions than often possible on felony specialty dockets.
For over two decades, the City of Fredericksburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Office has served as the hosting prosecutor office for the region’s oldest and largest specialty docket, the Rappahannock Regional Recovery Court (formerly known as the Rappahannock Regional Drug Court) in the Fredericksburg Circuit Court. Serious mental illness has often been a barrier to admission to the Recovery Court because of the more intensive interventions that are needed. The FTD will provide a path to interventions in cases involving serious mental illness at a point when the crime is a misdemeanor and has not escalated to a felony.
I want to express my thanks to Judge Jane M. Reynolds, who will preside over this new docket, and all community stakeholders who served on the planning team to bring the Fredericksburg Therapeutic Docket to the City of Fredericksburg. The non-judicial stakeholders are listed below.
Fredericksburg Therapeutic Docket Planning Team (non-judicial personnel)
Clerk of Court, General District Court of the City of Fredericksburg
Commonwealth’s Attorney Office, City of Fredericksburg
Fredericksburg Police Department
Fredericksburg Public Defender Office
Fredericksburg Sheriff’s Office
George Washington Regional Commission (Housing and Community Health Program)
Mary Washington Healthcare (Behavioral Health division)
Micah Ecumenical Ministries
Rappahannock Area Community Services Board
Rappahannock Area Regional Jail, Community Corrections Division
Two Local Private Defense Attorney Representatives: James J. Ilijevich, Esq.
and John M. Spencer, Esq.
University of Mary Washington Police Department
Victim Witness Services, Office of the Fredericksburg Commonwealth’s Attorney