DRUG OVERDOSE DEATHS

Why Bargain With Liebig?

Just when the Marc Liebig drug case appeared to be taking a turn
toward processing rather than prosecution, the public was encouraged.
Liebig, 25, this week was charged in the deaths of two young women who
died of drug overdoses in his bedroom at the Port Royal home where he
lived with his parents.

Investigators and prosecutors had been coy about linking the drugs he
possessed and the deaths within nine months of each other in 2002-03.
But after he entered a federal-court plea bargain that outlined such
linkage on March 1, local prosecutors had what they needed to proceed
with manslaughter charges.

But then came the troubling indicators that this case will be
processed rather than prosecuted after all. Likelihood continues to
point to a massive, cumulative plea bargain at a court hearing for
Liebig next week. It could turn into a one-stop shop, fueling the
perception that justice is for sale to the wealthy.

The Southwest Florida State Attorney's Office already is talking of
having Liebig serve prison time for state charges of drug possession
at the same time he serves the 10 years plus a month term ordered in
federal court. Will the manslaughter charges get a free pass too?

We have asked these questions before, to no avail: Who is looking out
for the public interest? Why is the State Attorney's Office compelled
to do Marc Liebig all these favors?

Those questions do not seem to matter to prosecutors.

The questions -- and answers -- do matter to the public.