"There's no excuse," he said. "I've gotten what I deserve."

He was ill, he said; drug addiction was an illness, "but there's no defense for taking an illegal substance to treat mental illness. Who in their right mind would inject themselves in front of an employee?"

... "If I'm ever a prosecutor again, which will never happen," he said, "I would be much less Rambo-ish and more compassionate in the way I handle an offense, particularly for users."

It seems Mr. Roach did not become addicted on the job, but has a decades old habit that predates his career in law enforcement. And, his usage was not a secret, either to his family or those around him. The real question after reading the Times article is not so much whether Roach deserves compassion, but how on earth did he ever get to be a prosecutor in the first place?

Jail is not the right answer for drug addicts, including Mr. Roach. But is that what he's really being sentenced for, or is it the abuse of his office and the public trust?