Editorial: Justice comes with price tag
Editorials April 19, 2013 5:02PM
Former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb. | Sun-Times file photo
Updated: April 22, 2013 2:35AM
What’s the price of public corruption?
So far, $1 million.
That’s the bill special prosecutor Dan Webb submitted last week for his law firm’s investigation into the 2004 death of David Koschman, a probe that has resulted in a manslaughter charge — eight years later — against a nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley.
Webb continues to investigate if and why police and prosecutors way back then failed to pursue the case. The obvious suspicion is clout — Daley’s nephew had it.
Webb says he and his firm will no longer bill the taxpayers, and that’s nice of them, but it shouldn’t be allowed to set a precedent. Public corruption cases demand the greatest scrutiny by our best attorneys at any price.
A cleaner criminal justice system doesn’t come cheap.
Not in Chicago, anyway.
