Justus Sanchez grew up near Northeast 67th and Killingsworth Street in Northeast Portland’s Cully neighborhood. Times were tough.
“I didn’t grow up in a stable environment,” Sanchez said. “The police were at my house often for domestic violence and my father left when I was 7.”
Throughout his youth, Sanchez sought guidance from places other than home, but he often found his way to negative influences.
“I got in a lot of trouble. I had been suspended numerous times for fighting or disrupting the class,” he said.
Sanchez eventually became affiliated with gangs. He’d been expelled from Portland Public Schools by 8th grade.
“I remember fighting and Portland Public Schools had enough. I was too disruptive in class,” he said.
And while he was often involved in disputes and scuffles, he managed to avoid being arrested or facing charges until the fall of his junior year.
“Sept. 25, 2009 — I remember it well because I was lucky to be alive after that,” he said. Nearly a dozen people were involved in the fight that day on the grounds of Madison High School, including Sanchez.
Sanchez was stabbed during the melee, as was his cousin and other assailants.
“I got stabbed a few times under my armpit, lower back and tailbone area. And one of the people who stabbed me was actually an old friend of mine.”
Sanchez fled from the scene with a friend, believing he had eluded law enforcement who were called to the scene. But officers caught up to him and arrested him.
Initially unaware that he had been so seriously injured, he collapsed once he stepped out of the police car. Sanchez was admitted to Legacy Emanuel Hospital. Family members came to visit him. None of his friends did.
“It was this incident that really changed my life,” he said.
It was also the incident that set him on the path to meet Candace Johnson, a juvenile court counselor with Multnomah County’s Juvenile Services Division.
For his role in the fight, Sanchez was charged with riot, disorderly conduct and assault in the third degree. After being released from the hospital, Sanchez was held in County detention, where he remembers a detective sharing that he could be incarcerated for as long as five years.
“There was also a video that the District Attorney could see showing that I had tackled a guy and he got stabbed by his own knife. I was thinking, ‘this is over for me,’” he said. “‘That’s my life, it’s over.’”
But Sanchez was assigned to Johnson.
“I remember waiting in the lobby of the detention center and being introduced to her, and she said to me, ‘I think you’re better than this,’” he recalled.
“She definitely made me realize I was wrong, but she also really advocated for me.”
As a juvenile court counselor, Johnson completes investigations and provides snapshots of a youth’s life, and makes recommendations to help them avoid becoming re-engaged with the justice system while also protecting the community. As Sanchez’s case progressed through the juvenile court system, she got him to open up to her about his goal of wanting to join the military.
Johnson helped Sanchez develop a plan, while also instilling accountability for his actions.
“She always answered her phone. She called me. She even called my mom to check on me. My mom even made her cookies for Christmas at one point,” Sanchez said.
“She made me want to do better. Being around her, it was almost like going to your grandma’s house. I feel like I’m loved and cared about, even though she doesn’t know me.”
In court, Sanchez worried that the book would be thrown at him. But it was Johnson who presented his case before the Multnomah County Circuit Court. It was Johnson who told the judge that he wanted to go into the military.
Sanchez ultimately received a plea agreement, probation, community service, and a requirement to write letters to the victims.
He joined, then completed, the Oregon Youth Challenge Program, a military school in southern Oregon. Soon after, he graduated from basic training.
He decided to stop into the Juvenile Services Division, dressed in his uniform, to reconnect with Johnson. He even made a point to visit then-District Attorney Michael Schrunk.
“And Candace said, ‘Look, it really is true that kids can do what they say they’re going to do if we just give them a chance.’”
Sanchez applied to get his charges expunged. He completed his senior year at Jefferson High School and took night school classes at Benson Polytechnic School to make up credits.
He graduated with a 3.7 GPA.
“My senior year and last semester, I had maybe three classes a day,” he said. “I played rugby and ran track. That was the first time where I experienced a normal high school life.”
His request to have his charges dropped and expunged from his record was granted a year later. He received a letter from the District Attorney’s office that enabled him to join the military.
Sanchez went on to serve in the military for six years, until 2017. After a stint in art school, he became a police officer with the Hillsboro Police Department in 2021.
“There was a point where I didn’t like law enforcement. My background is diverse. I didn’t go to school for criminal justice. I didn’t grow up in an environment where we appreciate law enforcement,” he said.
But today, he loves his role serving the community.
“My background helps me in interacting with the community and youth,” he says. “Whenever I get a call, I’m very knowledgeable because I was there, too."
If the moment presents itself in the course of his work day, he also shares his story.
Recently, he felt called to go back to the Juvenile Services Division — over a decade after the original incident — and visit with the juvenile court counselor who believed in him.
“I wanted to show them I really appreciate what they do in the juvenile department,” Sanchez said.
Johnson has now worked in the Juvenile Services Division for more than 30 years, and has long been lauded for her uncanny ability to reach youth. As a testament to her skills, she was recently nominated by the division for the Oregon Juvenile Department Directors Association Juvenile Justice Professional of the Year Award.
Sanchez showed up at the front desk. The receptionist called back to Johnson to let her know there was someone there to see her.
Johnson was speechless.
“I was almost getting emotional. I needed to show her how far I had come,” Sanchez said. “I’m only here because of Candace Johnson.
“She put her word on the line.”
Sanchez reflects on the events that set him on the path that would eventually take him to meet Johnson.
“I didn’t grow up in a good household. That’s why I looked to other things for guidance. So hearing someone say, ‘I believe in you, you can do this,’ and that they want me to do better… this random person is showing me acts of kindness.”
And while Sanchez told Johnson between hugs and catching up, “I don’t even know how I can repay you for what you did,” it was clear that a surprise visit was a great way to start.