Prosecutors in Dane County think 20 year-old Justin Simpson of Madison, dubbed the "parka bandit" for his signature attire, committed over a half dozen armed robberies within the past month in order to feed a hundred dollar a day heroin habit. That's something his attorney, Mark Eisenberg, doesn't deny. "This young man needs some treatment for his problem, and making him sit in jail and rot isn't going to do it."
Eisenberg hoped to move Simpson from jail to treatment. "If he confessed, it was on Sunday and Monday when the police officers had him at the Madison police department, while he's going through withdrawel. He was then after that interview or interrogation or whatever you want to call it, while he's in a withdrawel state, gets taken to the hospital to get treated for his withdrawel for 24 hours, before they dump him in the Dane County jail. And it looks as if Simpson will have to come off the junk while in lockup: the court commissioner agreed it was a sad case, but noting the seriousness of the crimes, set bond at $17,000.