MOSES LAKE — When Jonathan David Silva walked into Community Court months ago, he didn’t expect transformation. He expected to “jump through the hoops,” as he put it. Instead, he walked out last week as the program’s 17th graduate – sober, grounded and surrounded by a team he now calls “a second family.” 

“I was never really fully sober my whole life,” Silva said during an interview. “Community Court honestly gave me a different perspective… it geared me in a direction of what I should have been doing the whole time as an adult.” 

Silva, 34, admits he didn’t think he’d make it through the program. Independence had always been his default mode – sometimes to his own detriment, he said.  

“First, I really didn’t think that I was going to make it through. I thought, If I go to jail, I go to jail. It’s not that big of a deal," he told the court during his graduation. 

But something shifted. Structure, accountability and the unexpected support of peers and staff began to take hold. Living in an Oxford House, he said, was a turning point.  

“The whole team kind of became like a second family… the family I’ve always needed, but I didn’t know I needed,” he said.  

As of Wednesday, when he graduated, Silva was 434 days sober.  

A judge’s perspective 

Judge Brian Gwinn, who presides over Community Court, has seen plenty of participants come and go. Silva, he said, stands out. 

“This guy’s a real special guy,” Gwinn told the courtroom. “He has done everything he needed to do and learned a lot about himself. We learned about him. He learned about us. Just an awesome journey.” 

He also praised Silva’s willingness to address mental health – something not every participant embraces, Gwinn said.  

“Being yourself out there to have that stuff addressed is huge,” Gwinn said. “That’s when you hit the ‘I’m moving this way, I’m not moving back.’” 

A new chapter at home 

Now that his cases – including two Superior Court matters – have been formally dismissed, Silva says he’s staying in Moses Lake for a while. He’s reconnecting with family, working with his dad on their family farm and rebuilding relationships he once drifted from. 

“I’ve got a lot of proving to do,” he said. “If I just bounce out, they wouldn’t really take me seriously… so sticking around here, reconnecting bonds — that’s what’s next.” 

He also sees his future differently now.  

“Even though this doesn’t seem like a pinnacle, it kind of is… in the legal sense of what I was looking at and the punishment I was getting. It’s probably my proudest moment, after graduating college,” he said.  

Number 17 

As Silva signed the banner, Gwinn reminded him of his place in the program’s history: “You’re number 17.” 

It’s a number Silva says he won’t forget – not because it marks the end of something, but because it marks the beginning of a life he once didn’t think he’d reach. 

“Sometimes being forced to do something you don’t want to do is the right direction you need to be pushed,” he said. “Here, I had to – and it was the right push.” 

    Jonathan Silva shreds paperwork from his two Superior Court cases Wednesday after graduating from Community Court. With his graduation both cases were dismissed.
  

    Jonathan Silva signs the Community Court banner as the 17th graduate of the program. He said he didn’t originally think he would make it through the program and thought he would end up in jail. However, after finding stability with the court and the Oxford House, he was able to complete the program and has been sober for over a year.