He tried his best, but Charles McMahon couldn't hold it.

So he dropped his pants by the side of Moravian Avenue in Palmer Township.

Then he did his business. Then he picked it up and threw it.

"You were standing on the side of the road. You pulled your pants down. You picked it up and you started throwing your fecal matter around," said Northampton County Judge Stephen Baratta. "Tell me there's a good reason for this."

"I didn't want to go in my pants," said the 57-year-old Palmer Township man.

He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct Thursday and will spend six months on probation.

"Why'd you pick it up? That doesn't make sense," Baratta asked. "Why'd you get your hands dirty?"

"I don't know," McMahon said. "It's the first time it ever happened."

Defense attorney Anthony Rybak said McMahon had been drinking. McMahon admitted he had three beers. He told the judge he doesn't abuse alcohol but is schizophrenic.

He said he tossed the waste into the woods.

"Oh. In the woods. You were cleaning up after yourself?" the judge asked.

Two women driving by around 3:30 p.m. Oct. 14 saw McMahon reaching near his rear end and pulled over because he looked suspicious.

"They saw him reach in his pants and they were afraid he was discarding something illegal," said Assistant District Attorney Tatum Wilson.

They went to the woods to see what McMahon had thrown. Unfortunately, one of them stepped in it. The charging police officer reported he smelled the evidence on her shoe.

"You must have eaten something really bad," the judge said.

McMahon lamented he almost made it home.

"I was like this," he told Baratta as he waddled like a penguin to demonstrate.

His prior criminal record included one misdemeanor. He possessed an explosive, an M-80, in New Jersey.

"So you deal with hazardous materials?" the judge asked.

Wilson said the victims didn't oppose the plea deal as long as McMahon gets the mental help he needs. Baratta acknowledged the plea deal made sense for everyone.

"Nobody wants to go to trial and have the jury hear that story," he said.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.