Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

No charges in deaths of 3 Montgomery County mental-health patients

When three mental-health patients from Montgomery County died in closed rooms during two sizzling days in July, District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman learned of their deaths from the local news reports.

When three mental-health patients from Montgomery County died in closed rooms during two sizzling days in July, District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman learned of their deaths from the local news reports.

"I thought, 'This isn't good. We ought to take a look at this,' " Ferman said. Initially she said the state's "neglect of a care-dependent person" law might apply.

That law makes it a first-degree felony, punishable by 20 years in prison, if a dependent person dies because a caregiver fails in his or her duties.

But closer examination showed that the three, all diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenics, lived on their own with the help of medication, Ferman said. Since they had no caregiver, the law did not apply. Thus, no criminal charges can be filed in their deaths, Ferman said Wednesday.

"When someone depends upon others for basic care and sustenance - they can't walk, talk, or go to the bathroom on their own - and when someone is paid to do the caregiver job and does it recklessly, they can be held responsible," Ferman said.

"The reason why there are no charges is that these three men were not care-dependent."

Jerry Snavely, 62, and his friend John Malkasian, 53, were found dead by a landlord July 9 in Snavely's apartment on Pearl Street in Norristown. Both died of hyperthermia in the apartment, where the windows were always shut.

A police report said Malkasian was found in one bedroom, lying on the floor with several soda bottles at his feet. Snavely was found in the rear bedroom in a kneeling position, his head resting between the bed and end table. The temperature in the apartment was 110.

A third victim of the heat was John Snyder, 56, of Pennsburg. Snyder, who lived in a rooming house in the 200 block of Fourth Street, died July 12.

Snyder was schizophrenic, but "sweet and gentle" as long as he took his medication, said his half-sister, Noreen Ziegler of Green Lane. Snyder, she said, had retired after two years in the Navy.

Contacted by phone Wednesday, Ziegler said she had read that criminal charges would not be filed in Snyder's death, but did not wish to comment.

All three men received services from the county's Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. Agency administrator Eric Goldstein said Wednesday that when a heat wave poses danger to clients, case workers contact the most vulnerable ones.

Of 4,000 clients, 500 were contacted for safety checks during the two heat waves, he said, but there was nothing to single out the three as vulnerable because they were doing well in their separate living situations.

"We were looking at a number of those we thought might be at risk because of their medical history or their status," Goldstein said.

"There are some factors that are difficult to control. That doesn't mean we don't try to save lives. I was shaken when I heard it. I think risk factors are something we need to learn more about all the time."

Goldstein said it is easier to protect homeless people during the cold because they are visible and the need is obvious. It's harder to identify a person in need behind closed doors in a stifling room, he said.

"Heat is less obvious," he said. "We try to do as much as we can every day."