Now a Lawyer, Once a Heroin Addict

Rick Dyer, 58, hasn't always been so comfortable in this courtroom, reports CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor.

He used to be on the other side of the bar - as a defendant.

"I remember a lawyer one day put his hand on my shoulder, and said to me, 'Are you OK?' I wasn't, but no one had ever asked me that. Everyone was too busy sentencing me," said Dyer.

Dyer had 18 sentences handed to him in this Brighton, Mass. court for everything from grand larceny to drug possession.

"I remember not being able to get up and get out of my cell. Just wishing, wishing, and praying that I could just die," said Dyer.

That was Dyer at rock bottom - withdrawing from a 42 bag-a-day heroin habit.

"My first real memory of him is in the cell, really depressed and despondent, maybe even crying," said Margie Van, Brighton Court probation officer.

The Charles Street Jail in downtown Boston is where Dyer ended up eight times. It was recently converted into the Liberty Hotel - a real-life metaphor for Dyer's own transformation.

He earned his GED while behind bars, got his law degree when he got out and then, former governor Michael Dukakis gave him a Governor's pardon - so Rick Dyer could officially practice law.

About two or three times a week Dyer looks back and can't believe what has happened.

"I think Attorney Dyer had an experience that brought him out on the other side," said Judge David Donnelly of the Boston Municipal Court Department.

And knowing both sides - Dyer hopes to preside in the same courtroom - as a judge.

"I think we need to redefine the way we view people who come into the system," said Dyer.

In the meantime, he invests in his time in the community, meeting every week with kids like Bernard Rogers at an inner-city youth center.

"It's very inspirational," said Rogers. "To see him now is like a whole 360."

Maybe not a complete 360. Dyer still considers himself a work in progress who knows how hard the transformation was.

"I remember people like Mike Dukakis who really meant what they said," said Dyer. "And stood up for people like me, and gave us a voice. And I'm hoping that is what I can do."