ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Find a lawyer or be prepared to represent yourselves.
Such was the directive a Lehigh County judge on Monday gave to a Lower Macungie Township couple charged with conspiracy to commit murder by trying to starve their twin 15-year-old sons.
At a status hearing, Joshua D. Dechant, 36, and his wife, Tracy A. Dechant, 42, told Judge James T. Anthony they don’t have the financial means to hire a defense attorney.
“You have 60 days to find a lawyer. I suggest you go out there and beat the bushes.”Lehigh County Judge James T. Anthony
“We do want to hire a lawyer but we can’t afford it,” Tracy Dechant told the judge.
The couple said they used their home as collateral to post their $200,000 bail and don’t have additional means to pay for defense counsel.
It was determined the defendants don’t qualify financially for a public defender. They would, however, qualify, despite their finances, if they were incarcerated.
Anthony scheduled a status conference for 9:30 a.m. Nov. 10.
“You have 60 days to find a lawyer,” Anthony told the defendants. “I suggest you go out there and beat the bushes.”
The Dechants refused comment as they left the courtroom.
The prosecution was represented by county Chief Deputy District Attorney Sara Moyer and Senior Deputy District Attorney Sarah Heimbach.
Couple faces numerous charges
Tracy Dechant, the boys’ biological mother, and Joshua Dechant, their stepfather, each face two counts of conspiracy to commit murder in the third degree, aggravated assault, unlawful restraint of a minor, false imprisonment, simple assault and reckless endangerment.
At a six-hour preliminary hearing in May, District Judge Michael J. Faulkner determined there was enough evidence to have the Dechants face the charges in Lehigh County Court.
“Because he had no access to proper nutrition and calories, he had abnormalities consistent that would put him at death."Dr. Kristen Predergast of Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital
In January, a neighbor called police and said that one of the Dechant’s teenage sons was running outside, practically naked, in single-digit temperatures.
Investigators say the boys, each 4-feet-9, were starved to the point where one was 54 pounds, and the other was 53 pounds. Both boys should have been around 140 pounds.
At that January hearing, Dr. Kristen Predergast and Dr. Lindsey Kudenchak, both of Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital, testified that the degree of malnutrition and cardiac problems, among others, they found in the boys during their hospital stay that month would likely have led to their deaths had the abuse continued.
Prendergast described seeing ribs and spine because of the emaciated body of one of the boys.
“Because he had no access to proper nutrition and calories, he had abnormalities consistent that would put him at death,” she said.
Detailing the alleged abuse
The boys told police the abuse they had endured by their parents including being denied food and water.
Among the punishments that were meted out by their parents were standing in the cold for two minutes in little clothing for each punishment, they said.
Another was being forced to shower in cold water and wash each part of their body. Punishment for failure to do so would be back out in the cold for two minutes.
According to one of the pediatricians, one of the boys told her, "They had to sleep on the floor with only one blanket, was not allowed to wear clothing in the house and was forced to walk around naked."
“At mealtime," the pediatrician testified, "he said they weren’t allowed the same sized meals as their siblings and would be punished if they took too big a bite from a smaller-sized spoon.”
