GUILTY PLEA IN HEROIN DEATH

Man Admits Role in Teen's Overdose

A McHenry County man pleaded guilty Wednesday to an
involuntary-manslaughter charge that is likely to keep him behind bars for
about 16 months, rather than the 30 years he might have received when
police charged him with injecting a teenage friend with a fatal dose of heroin.

Robert L. Berger, 19, of the 700 block of Portsmouth Drive, Island Lake,
admitted in court his role in the death of Kaley J. Lieburn, 17, of the
Wonder Lake area.

Prosecutors said Berger, Lieburn and two friends drove to the West Side of
Chicago on May 20, 2003, and purchased several $10 bags of heroin. That
night, Berger injected Lieburn with heroin three times, and the teen
overdosed, according to prosecutors. No one else was charged.

The next morning, paramedics, summoned by Berger after efforts to rouse
Lieburn failed, found him dead on the basement floor of the home where
Berger lived with his mother and grandparents.

Prosecutors said Berger hesitated before calling 911 because he feared
police would discover drugs in the home.

Police originally charged Berger with drug-induced homicide, which carries
a penalty of up to 30 years in prison.

After Wednesday's plea, Assistant State's Atty. Robert Beaderstadt said
prosecutors could not make the stronger charge stick because they would
have had to prove that Berger gave Lieburn more than 10 grams of heroin.

Evidence showed less than that amount was used that night, said
Beaderstadt, who called for a change in the law.

"Children are dying on much less than 10 grams," Beaderstadt said.

Circuit Judge Sharon Prather sentenced Berger to 4 years in prison on the
involuntary-manslaughter charge. Prather credited him with 251 days already
spent in the County Jail, so Berger is likely to serve another 16 months
with time off for good behavior.

In an unrelated case, Berger also pleaded guilty to attempted burglary, for
which Prather sentenced him to 2 years of probation.

"I hope that you have learned what a tremendous waste of lives the use of
drugs" is, Prather told Berger. "Do you think you have?"

"I think I have," Berger said. "Only time will tell that."

Lieburn's mother, Lauren, said after the proceedings that she was unhappy
with Berger's response and with the amount of time he will serve.

"I don't think that sentence is going to create a change in his heart or in
his behavior," she said.

Berger and her son had been friends for about a year, Lieburn said.

She said her son did not have a drug problem, although she suspected that
was changing in the weeks before his death.

"Kaley made his choice," she said. "His consequences were death."

She said she remembers her son as someone who loved skateboarding and
playing with young children and who wrote poems for her on Valentine's Day.

Lieburn, who has moved to Chicago, said she spent the last year in and out
of hospitals being treated for depression. She recently has gone back to work.

She said she is considering ways to get word to parents and teens about the
dangers of drug use.

"Obviously, the 'Say no to drugs' thing doesn't work," she said.