EX-AGENT'S DEATH LEAVES QUESTIONS

A Nevada man who died on Interstate 75 last week turned out to be a
retired Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was on trial in
Gainesville, accused of racketeering and money laundering.

During a lunch break Thursday, the agent, Stephen Michael Swanson, 56,
walked out of his Gainesville federal trial, drove out to I-75 and
stepped in front of a tractor-trailer.

Jurors never heard closing arguments from Swanson's attorney, William
DeCarlis.

This week, speculation about the reasons for Swanson's death varied.
Some supposed the former agent feared he would find himself behind
bars. The same man who had worked for DEA for 17 years was facing 10
years to life in a federal prison if convicted.

Swanson was "under tremendous stress," DeCarlis said Monday, but he
didn't agree that his client was afraid. If Swanson did intentionally
kill himself, he said, it was to help others.

"I don't think this guy was afraid of anything. I think whatever
happened was an act of courage for other people," DeCarlis said.

Swanson's wife, Louise Swanson, suffers from terminal breast cancer,
court records show. If convicted, Swanson would have lost medical
benefits his wife needed.

"He wanted to eliminate that possibility," DeCarlis
said.

"He's a fallen hero as far as I'm concerned."

Federal prosecutors had finished closing arguments Thursday. At 1:30
p.m., DeCarlis was set to start his closing arguments in the trial,
then in its 15th day. In the meantime, the trial was taking a lunch
break.

DeCarlis said he had no idea about Swanson's intentions when he
borrowed van keys from a member of DeCarlis' staff. The ex-agent had
been released earlier on bond and was allowed to move around freely.

Swanson drove the van to I-75, just south of NW 39th Avenue. He
stepped from the west shoulder onto the highway and was hit by a Great
Dane tractor-trailer driven by Gary Lee Elliott, 42, of Mulberry, a
Florida Highway Patrol traffic report shows.

Friday morning, U.S. Senior District Judge Maurice Paul told the jury
that Swanson was dead. Paul has since declared a mistrial.

The case against Swanson stemmed from an investigation into the
drug-smuggling case of Claude Louis DuBoc. In 1994, DuBoc pleaded
guilty to conspiracy to launder money and import up to 120 metric tons
of hashish and marijuana into the United States.

Swanson was one of three people indicted in 1998 for his role in a
money-laundering and racketeering scheme involving drugs. The 62-page
indictment says Swanson and two other men, Batte Thomas Lowe Smith,
nicknamed "Tahoe Tommy" and Gilford Robson, conspired to import
marijuana into the United States and Canada, extorted funds from other
drug traffickers by threatening them with possible arrests and sold or
gave confidential law enforcement information to drug traffickers. The
activity started as early as 1976, the indictment reports.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars changed hands in the case that
spanned America and reached into other countries including Canada,
Switzerland and Hong Kong, the U.S. Attorney's Office alleges.

The government was seeking forfeiture of at least $7 million in the
case.

Smith pleaded guilty last year to one count in the indictment,
conspiracy to commit racketeering. He has yet to be sentenced, court
documents report. An arrest warrant has been filed for Robson.

Swanson, who retired from the DEA in 1984 and later worked as a
private investigator, said the government knew about his involvement
with these men because he was helping investigators.

"Basically, most of his defense was that he was working for the
government and there was testimony to that fact," DeCarlis said.

"I thought that our defense had a realistic shot at succeeding,"
DeCarlis said.