First defendant admitted to new Northampton County mental health court

April 02--Kevin P. Hydro was in bad shape when he was arrested in downtown Easton last summer after he broke into a business looking for a place to sleep off his drunk.

Battling alcoholism and undiagnosed depression, the 53-year-old Hydro seemed a broken and dispirited man when his public defender, Anthony Rybak, first met him in Northampton County Prison.

"He was in a really hopeless place," Rybak said. "He'd given up, is the best way I can put it."

In the past, a case like Hydro's would almost inevitably lead to a criminal conviction that could, in the long run, make his chances of integrating back into society even harder.

But Wednesday, Hydro became the county's first defendant to be accepted into a newly established mental health court, which seeks to stress treatment over punishment. Under the diversionary program, instead of going through the court system, Hydro will spend 90 days in an inpatient treatment facility, then transition through social services back into the community.

In total, he'll be under the eye of the county for about two years to ensure he stays on his medications and off of alcohol, said Judge Craig Dally, who heads the court. If Hydro does so, he'll see the trespassing and public drunkenness charges he faced dismissed altogether.

"It is my hope you'll be successful," Dally told Hydro at the conclusion of a brief hearing in a courtroom lined with probation and health and human services officials.

"We're hoping he responds and it is a quick and immediate response," Rybak said afterward of his client. "We're crossing our fingers."

Hydro was arrested Aug. 12, when he triggered an alarm at Kaplan's Awning on Northampton Street and police found him inside intoxicated, Assistant District Attorney James Augustine said.

Programs like Northampton County's are part of the more than 100 "problem-solving courts" that Pennsylvania has. They try to take nonviolent offenders out of the justice system while ensuring they get the help they need.

The idea: to save the money that would otherwise be spent incarcerating them, while reducing their risks to offend again.

District Attorney John Morganelli said he anticipates that 20 to 25 defendants a year will go through the new program. Since its kickoff in January, he has had five applications, two of which he accepted, two of which he denied and one of which is pending, he said.

Morganelli announced his support for a mental health court more than a year ago, saying he sees it as a way to break the cycle of recidivism for mentally ill defendants. It is one of two innovative county court initiatives that are getting underway this week.

Last month, Dally briefed County Council on the other, a drug court for nonviolent addicts that he is also spearheading. It will focus on probation violators who already served time for their crimes, but then got in trouble again after, for instance, failing a drug test or shoplifting to feed their habit.

Rather than finishing their original sentences in a jail cell, the defendants will get intensive drug treatment and supervision through the county's human services and probation departments.

On Thursday, the program is slated to admit its first applicants.

riley.yates@mcall.com

610-253-5751

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