A woman who went from being a tribal court judge, to a prison inmate, to an outspoken recovery mentor for addicts has been reinstated to practice law in Wyoming.
Terri Smith told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday that she’s grateful for the chance to practice law again. More than that, she said she hopes this victory sends a message to others who have struggled with addiction that with accountability and hard work, people can get their lives back.
“My hope is that people will see this as a testament to how powerful recovery is,” said Smith. “I would not have accomplished anything without finding my recovery first.”
Accountability is a key to recovery, she said. So are hard work and hope.
The Fall
Smith was appointed associate judge of the Northern Arapaho Tribal Court in 2016. Later when the court merged with that of another tribe and became the Wind River Tribal Court, Smith became chief tribal judge in 2018.
She was celebrated as a success by her tribe, the Northern Arapaho.
She also was hiding an opiate addiction that she’d battled since her beloved boyfriend died while they were in college together.
In 2019, Smith was indicted federally for dealing oxycodone and cocaine. She spent months in prison, then at a halfway house in Casper. Then she graduated to probation.
In the meantime, she lost everything professionally she’d worked for — she was stripped of her position as a judge and disbarred . And it was all very public.
Smith also used her punishment to practice what she preached to other drug offenders who had come before her — be accountable, do the work and embrace recovery.
U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson cut Smith’s probation term short, noting her continuing recovery from drug addiction and her hard work.
Rising
In March 2021, the Wyoming Supreme Court disbarred her on the recommendation of a review committee. On Thursday, following a different review committee’s reflection on Smith’s life and recommendation that she get a second chance, the Wyoming Supreme Court reinstated Smith to practice law in Wyoming.
The review committee’s filing included words that Judge Johnson spoke to Smith at her sentencing hearing.
He referenced her secret, yearslong struggle with oxycodone addiction, which she supplemented at one point by selling cocaine, and said he still had high hopes for her.
“You are a remarkable woman in so many ways in what you have been able to achieve despite what many people would call handicaps,” said Johnson, according to the transcript.
Smith grew up amid family members’ addiction and other struggles. She spent part of her childhood on the Wind River Indian Reservation and part in Salt Lake City. Her mother was a single mom who was hospitable to those in need, but who struggled with poverty and alcohol dependence.
“You felt a sense of responsibility to your tribe and Native American people,” Johnson continued. “In general, people who are marginalized, whose housing is red lined, who live on trust property that they cannot mortgage to finance better housing, who are in a way trapped at every turn.”
The judge said that “a lot of correction needs to occur” in the way tribal land and life are structured.
And Smith’s redemption, which at the time was only a potential and a hope, was one part of that, said the judge.
“We are dealing here today with only part of the story — of your story that is going to go ahead for many, many years. It is a story that can have success,” Johnson said.
Terri Smith, from left, with her cousin Dena and twin sister Jerri. (Courtesy Terri Smith) 
The March 27, 2019, edition of Riverton, Wyoming, newspaper The Ranger, in which Smith’s story led on the front page. The story quickly went national. (Cowboy State Daily Staff) 
Terri Smith's public prosecution was reported on in her local newspaper and around the United States. This is an impage of the front page of the March 28, 2019, edition of The Ranger. (Cowboy State Daily Staff)
Helping Others
Smith did find success.
She’s remained with the father of her children, and she reunited with her children after prison. She leads a reentry center in Fremont County and supports other addicts in their journey to recovery.
Being reinstated to practice law took a lot of hard work, she said. But now that she’s in that position, she doesn’t want to let go of what she learned while on the underside of the criminal justice system.
“I don’t see myself leaving (the reentry center) anytime soon,” she said. “I have clients that are getting out of prison, getting their lives back.”
Since she can practice law, however, she may take on the occasional job to help one of her clients.
And in the long term, she’s considering working as a public defender — one who can also counsel her clients to take the first step to recovery, of taking accountability.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
