LESSONS FROM TRAGEDY

WEST CHESTER - Judge Howard F. Riley Jr. might have been looking
directly at the 18-year-old from Lower Providence who was about to go
to prison for driving a car while high on marijuana, but he was
thinking of someone else.

His mind went back 14 years to another high school student who got in
trouble and never seemed to take what was happening to him seriously.
An 18-year-old who was bright and charismatic and talented, but whose
descent into mental illness came, Riley intimated, because of an
attraction to drugs. A person who was eventually committed against his
will for psychiatric treatment to Norristown State Hospital, where on
Jan. 28 he was found dead, an apparent suicide at age 33.

He was thinking of Robert Mulcare.

"I suggest you learn something about his story," Riley on Wednesday
told the Lower Providence youth, who had been kicked out of Chester
County's Drug Court for testing positive for marijuana use three times
over the five weeks he was enrolled in the program. "I'm not saying
that is what is going to happen to you. But that's the kind of danger
you are playing with."

Riley, a 15-year veteran of the Common Pleas Court bench, has over the
years developed into a staunch opponent of looking the other way when
young defendants come to his courtroom facing charges that stem from
drug use, particularly marijuana. He confronts them on their behavior
with direct, hard-to-avoid questions that prosecutors and defense
attorneys say are designed to get the defendants' attention before
they slide into more criminal behavior.

"I've been in front of him on a number of different occasions, not
just cases involving drug use, and he doesn't have a whole lot of
tolerance for people who throw their life away," said West Chester
criminal attorney Dan Bush, a former county prosecutor. "That's the
way he sees it.

"I absolutely tell every one of my clients who appear in front of him
that he is very hard with these types of issues," Bush said. "He gives
you a chance, but you don't want to come back in front of him after
screwing up."

"He doesn't let them coast through with a drive-through plea," said
Michelle Frei, the assistant district attorney who has been assigned
to Riley's courtroom for more than three years and who prosecuted the
young man from Lower Providence. "He holds them accountable and makes
them answer tough questions that maybe they haven't had to answer before.

"I truly appreciate that Judge Riley takes the time, and that he has
educated himself on the connection between marijuana use and mental
health, especially in young men. You want them to be successful, after
all. You don't want them to come back."

Mulcare came back to Riley's courtroom again and again for failing to
meet the requirements of his probation or take responsibility for his
behavior.

In 1993, Mulcare was among a small group of teenagers from Great
Valley High School who began playing pranks and committing acts of
vandalism in and around the Malvern area - all the while dressed in
black as self-styled ninjas.

Police said they broke into schools, stole a computer, fire-bombed a
car, took dozens of golf balls from a country club, pushed over a
religious statue, damaged cars, tried to break into a gas station, and
let the air out of the tires on buses at the Great Valley School
District because they didn't want to go to school that day.

Upon his arrest in 1993, Mulcare, of Willistown, was described by
police as the leader of the group. "He's very influential," said one
of the police officers who investigated the case. "I don't know what
it is about him that makes people want to follow him. But it doesn't
take him long to get people to go along with him."

Mulcare was charged with offenses ranging from arson and burglary to
theft and criminal trespass. In October 1993, Riley sentenced him
sentenced to 11 1/2 to 23 months in county prison and five years
consecutive probation. "I consider this a break for you," he told Mulcare.

But he was back in front of Riley less than two years later for
violating probation. Mulcare claimed, among other excuses, that he had
missed appointments with a court-appointed psychologist because of a
severe sunburn.

"My concern here I that it is just excuse after excuse after excuse,"
Riley said at the time. "I just feel like he doesn't care."

Mulcare attended West Chester University and worked as a computer
specialist. But he apparently struggled with drug use and was back in
front of Riley on different occasions. In 2001, Riley ordered him
committed to Norristown for evaluation and treatment after he was
found by prison doctors to be a threat to himself. He would be
re-committed several times over the years.

Riley said in court last Wednesday there is no conclusive proof that
marijuana use leads to mental illnesses like the one that haunted
Mulcare. But he tells those who appear in front of him that they
should look at the research that suggests there may be a
correlation.

A study published in 2007 in the journal Addiction found a growing
body of evidence suggesting that regular marijuana use may increase
risks of psychosis. According to a report on the study in The Time of
London, "Research has suggested that regular users of the drug are up
to six times more likely to develop schizophrenia.

The story said the British mental health charity Rethink found at
least five international studies that show marijuana use doubles the
risk of mental illness, including schizophrenia.

"A spokesman for the charity said: 'We now know that cannabis can be a
trigger for mental health problems and smoking it under the age of 18
can double people's chances of developing psychosis,'" the story says.

Those are studies that the young man from Lower Providence may soon be
reading. As part of his sentence, Riley ordered the 18-year-old to
complete a research paper on the correlation between drugs and mental
illness.

"I'm not saying marijuana causes mental illness," Riley said. "But if
you are going to be stupid enough to use it you should know what you
are facing, and I want to read it and know that you have done the research."

It should hit home. The youth, who recently graduated from the 21st
Century Cyber Charter in Downingtown, suffers from an anxiety
disorder. When he was arrested by Easttown police in August for
driving a Chevrolet under the influence of marijuana, officers also
found prescription Klonopin in the car - a drug used to combat panic
attacks.

Although the youth's attorney said he had been sober since being
turned out of drug court last November and was diligently trying to
straighten himself out, Riley nonetheless took a hard line in the case
- - sending the youth to prison for seven days to six months, far
greater than the 72 hours suggested by his attorney.

Frei said afterward that what Riley does in confronting those
defendants did not arise because of a political agenda against drugs.
"It is not a crusade," she said. "I think he does this out of real
concern, and to educate these kids. They are only hurting themselves,
and drugs only make things worse."

The youth was led from the courtroom in handcuffs as his parents
looked on. He was visibly shaken by the experience. Before he left,
however, Riley had some parting words.

"Listen to your parents," the judge said. "They are here for you.
Yourdrug buddies aren't. And you might not think it, but I care about what
happens to you."