Copyright: 2002 The Times-Picayune
Contact: letters@timespicayune.com
Website: http://www.nola.com/t-p/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/848
Author: Natalie Pompilio

PLEA DEAL REACHED IN CLUB-DRUG FATALITY

12-Year Term Likely For GBH Provider

On Dec. 28, in a darkened Uptown bar, Brandon LaCroix invited Brennon
Bourgeois and a friend to come outside and "do a hit" of the club
drug GHB, and they took him up on his offer, according to the U.S.
attorney's office.

A short time later, Bourgeois was unresponsive and struggling to
breathe. His friends placed him in the back seat of LaCroix's white
Cadillac Seville and asked LaCroix to take Bourgeois to the hospital.
LaCroix refused, saying the 18-year-old Metairie resident was "just
in a G-hole" and needed to sleep off the drug.

When the remainder of his bottle of liquid GHB spilled on the car's
carpet, LaCroix became angry and blamed Bourgeois, saying the gaffe
had cost him $300. He walked back into the bar and advised Bourgeois'
friend to "leave him alone."

Ten days later, Bourgeois died. And for providing drugs that caused
the youth's death, LaCroix will serve 12 years in a federal prison
under a plea agreement reached with the U.S. attorney's office this
week. LaCroix, 19, of Metairie, pleaded guilty to possession with
intent to distribute GHB. It marks the first time Acting U.S.
Attorney Jim Letten's office has used a federal statute that aims to
hold suspected drug dealers responsible for the death of a client.

"Nobody here believes for a minute that Mr. LaCroix intended to cause
the death of Mr. Bourgeois . . ., but he contributed, albeit
unintentionally, to Mr. Bourgeois' coma and his ultimate death, no
doubt," Letten said.

LaCroix faced a sentence of between 20 years and life in prison for
his role in Bourgeois' death, but Letten said the plea was acceptable
to his office, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the New
Orleans Police Department and the Bourgeois family. The agreement now
needs the approval of Judge Stanwood R. Duval, who can accept the
arrangement or reject it, which would mean either a trial or another
attempt at reaching a plea deal. Duval will set a sentencing date
after reviewing a pre-sentencing report from the U.S. Probation
Office.

"It's a pretty good hit, we believe, for a young person who was
reckless and handling illegal drugs and who didn't intend to end this
other person's life," Letten said.

Don Bourgeois, the father of Brennon Bourgeois, found little
satisfaction in LaCroix's punishment.

"It's a terrible tragedy on both parts, and it's a shame that, in the
society we live in, we have to put up with this," Don Bourgeois said.
"But if this is justice, if this is what the courts decide, then this
is what we have to live with."

The misuse of GHB, or gamma hydrozybutyrate, is a growing problem in
the greater New Orleans area. A clear, odorless liquid, GHB depresses
the central nervous system and can be lethal when mixed with alcohol.
It is considered a "date rape" drug, one that leaves its user unable
to remember blocks of time.

GHB, once confined to all-night raves, has become increasingly
mainstream and is popular with college students. Most who use it,
Letten said, are unaware of its dangers. It is nicknamed "Grievous
Bodily Harm."

"Many of the kids who use these things take them lightly and don't
believe their harmful properties are as dangerous as they are," he
said. "They're killing themselves, and they're killing one another
when they share it."

Letten did not know whether Bourgeois and LaCroix had ever ingested
GHB together before, but the young men did know each other. Both grew
up in Metairie and played baseball at different playgrounds.
Bourgeois, known as "Scooter" to his family, was a senior at
Ridgewood Preparatory School who dreamed of winning a baseball
scholarship to college, his father said.

LaCroix faces additional felony drug charges in Jefferson Parish. He
was on probation at the time of his arrest.