The Brizzonater is Back!

After managing to stay out of the headlines for several months, Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi is back, and back with a vengeance. Previously, Brizzi was under fire from his fellow Republicans, including former Marion County Prosecutor and former Public Safety Director Scott Newman and Marion County GOP Chairman Thomas John, with calls for him to resign due to multiple alleged conflicts of interest and plea-bargains the prosecutor's office offered in several cases, as well as his business relationship with defense attorney Paul Page and alleged Ponzi schemer Tim Durham.

Brizzi is now under fire for a plea deal in a drunken driving case that is supposed to be offered on Friday, August 20th. The story doesn't make it clear what exactly the initial charges were, but does note that the crash resulted in a death. Strangely enough, the story doesn't name Brizzi specifically, and doesn't mention the several other cases where Brizzi is alleged to offer lenient plea deals when personal relationships with the prosecutor come into play.

I have been hesitant to call for Brizzi's head in the ongoing case of Officer Dave Bisard and the situation surrounding the accident that resulted in one death and two severe injuries. In my view so far, Brizzi seems to have been the one left out in the cold. However, two frequent commentators on blogs, Indy4u2c and Brizzonator, are harshly critical of Brizzi in the comments section of Gary Welsh's latest post, and both bring up good points. What they're saying though is that even though Brizzi might not be actively participating in a cover-up, his office slacked off and could've prevented this evidence from being thrown out.

Regardless of what the facts might be, the perception of Brizzi being this corrupt guy who lets drunks (with connections!) get away with murder isn't helping a prosecutor whose last year has been scandal-ridden.