While the suspects' defense lawyer and a county prosecutor privately talked about the case in a meeting room at Magisterial District Judge Richard Orendorff's court, the parents of the dead student loudly demanded a different kind of justice than the legal system offers - some face time with the last people who saw their son alive.

Wracked with emotion, Tracy and Scott McGoyne of Steelton, Dauphin County, waited outside the courthouse annex for the start of a hearing for Ryan Wolff, 20, of Irwin and Jessica Robinson, 19, of Ligonier, two of four suspects charged with sharing heroin with Michael McGoyne, Wolff's fraternity brother, in the Kappa Delta Rho house along South Seventh Street near the IUP campus. The hearing didn't materialize. And while reporters and the McGoynes waited on Water Street for Wolff and Robinson to exit the building, the couple slipped away through a side door and circled through a back alley to avoid a confrontation.

"These kids are going to walk away with what they've done and God help them, God help them, they've got to live with this the rest of their lives," Tracy McGoyne said.

According to charges filed by Indiana Borough police, Wolff, Robinson and Mike McGoyne used heroin along with Steven Ripple of Ford City and Andrea Rupert of Erie the night of Feb. 14 in Wolff's bedroom at the Kappa Delta Rho house. Investigators charged that Ripple and Rupert bought heroin from a supplier in the Pittsburgh area earlier in the day and furnished it to the three others.

Detective John Scherf based the charges on evidence gathered by investigators and statements given by Ripple, Rupert, Robinson and Wolff, who all described the events leading to McGoyne's death.

Wolff told police he found McGoyne breathing at 11:15 a.m. Feb. 15, then discovered him dead in his room more than six hours later. Other witnesses said Robinson hid drugs and paraphernalia in her car after Wolff called 911 for help.

Both are charged with possession of heroin, and Robinson also is charged with tampering with evidence.

When the hearing didn't begin on time Wednesday, Tracy and Scott McGoyne complained that lawyers were negotiating a deal for the pair.

"I wish my son had a chance to cut a deal," Tracy McGoyne told reporters.

She also said she was frustrated that she and her husband took time off from work to drive from Harrisburg for nothing - twice. They made the trip on May 5 when Wolff and Robinson first were scheduled to appear in the district court, but that hearing was postponed.

"They (Wolff and Robinson) have enjoyed their summer," she said. "I wish my son had as many breaks as they have."

Carrie Boyer and Christian Branch, hometown friends of Mike McGoyne, traveled to Indiana with McGoyne's parents and comforted them while they waited to see Wolff and Robinson. After Assistant District Attorney Geoffrey Kugler said the pair decided to forgo hearings, Branch pleaded with Scott McGoyne not to confront them.

An Indiana Borough police officer tried to calm the parents while they waited outside the court.

"There's a time and a place ... ," Cpl. Joseph Bobick told them. "This is not it."

"I'm not leaving until they walk out. I have no problem looking at them," Tracy McGoyne said. "I want to know why they have a problem looking at us."

The McGoynes said they planned to return to Orendorff's court two more times next month.

Rupert, 22, is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing Aug. 17. A hearing for Ripple, 24, is set for Aug. 31. Both are charged with three counts of delivery of drugs in a school zone, and one count each of possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia.

District Attorney Robert Bell said his office has made no deals with Wolff and Robinson.

"If they want to waive their hearings, that's their right," Bell said. "Nothing was given up to them for doing that. We're not offering these people any kind of deal.

"I'm pretty confident what went on there today is what we planned."

In a written statement delivered to media in May, Tracy and Scott McGoyne complained that all four suspects were not facing the same charges, and that no one was charged with drug delivery resulting in death.

"The family sees this lack of charges being filed as a great injustice to our son's death," they wrote in the statement.

Prosecutors said the evidence would not support charges of delivery of drugs resulting in death. Toxicology tests showed Mike McGoyne, 20, had a mixture of cocaine and heroin in his system and investigators could not determine the source of the cocaine, Bell said.

"I've explained to them the law and they know what the situation is," Bell said. "I feel bad that these people lost a child; it's a horrible thing. But by the same token we have to do what the law tells us."