Man finishes drug rehab, gets married same day

By ELI SEGALL
Associated Press Writer

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — It was a little past 11 a.m., and Billy Daniels was getting worried. A friend was supposed to drive him to Essex County Superior Court, but the man hadn't shown.

This was a big day for Daniels — the biggest in years — and he couldn't be late to court. Until a few years ago, he snorted heroin everyday. But today would be different — today was the start of a new life.

In only a few hours, Daniels would graduate from a state-run drug rehabilitation program. A few minutes after that, he would be married.

For the past five years, Daniels, 47, was enrolled in the county's drug court program. To beat his heroin addiction, his urine was tested twice a week, he had a 7 p.m. curfew, and he attended Narcotics Anonymous.

He also attended a job training program in Jersey City, where he met Sandy Roman, herself a recovering drug addict in the program.

Daniels' story begins in Newark, where he and his four siblings were raised. As a teen he moved to Tulsa, Okla., and at 23 married an 18-year-old. Two days after the wedding, he returned to Newark, bringing his wife and their infant daughter with him.

From the mid-1980s to 2003, Daniels said he snorted heroin three or four times a day, buying little $10 baggies of the drug. He said he snorted it in the hallways of housing projects, and sometimes, on the streets of Newark in broad daylight.

"When you wake up in the morning, you feel kind of sick, can't do nothing," he said. "And then, when you get that bag, that energy takes over you."

His new wife has a similar history. She was arrested for possession of crack cocaine in Camden about six years ago, and child services removed four of her children from her apartment.

Neither of them work. The left side of Daniels' face is paralyzed from Bell's Palsy, a nerve condition, and Roman says she has no cartilage in her knees. They both collect Social Security benefits, totaling roughly $1,000 a month.

After yet another run-in with the law in 2003, Daniels was sentenced to drug court, a strict, state-run rehabilitation program.

Daniels entered the program in February 2004 and, like most participants, had to spend five years there.

Graduation day came in February. Judge Ramona Santiago awarded him a certificate, and a few minutes later married Daniels and Roman.

Daniels' friend never came to drive them to court, so the couple and his mom walked a block to catch the bus.

They entered the courthouse, rode the elevators to the seventh floor, and by 2 p.m., Daniels had graduated from drug court. Roman watched him graduate, then left the courtroom.

She re-emerged within minutes, arms linked with Daniels' probation officer, Dujuan Jones. As they walked down the aisle, a court clerk sang "At Last," by Etta James.

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Copyright 2009 The Associated Press