cannabisnews.com: Judge Shuts Down Investigation of Noelle Bush





Judge Shuts Down Investigation of Noelle Bush
Posted by CN Staff on October 01, 2002 at 10:10:55 PT
By Doris Bloodsworth and Pedro Ruz Gutierrez
Source: Orlando Sentinel
A circuit judge Monday blocked Orlando police from questioning drug-center workers in a cocaine investigation of Noelle Bush, ruling that privacy laws take priority over law enforcement.Praised by drug-treatment experts but criticized by prosecutors, the order by Orange Chief Circuit Judge Belvin Perry Jr. says federal confidentiality laws protect employees at the Center For Drug-Free Living from answering questions about reports that crack cocaine was found in the shoe of the governor's daughter.
The Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office immediately said it will appeal the decision.In an 11-page ruling, Perry said privacy laws do not compel drug-treatment workers to testify in drug-possession cases.Without that protection, the judge said, patients who suffer relapses could be hauled into criminal courts, undoing the good of diversion programs, such as drug court in which Bush is enrolled."It is clearly the drug court's place to decide whether or not a patient has failed in the program and, as a consequence, should be turned over to the justice system to face criminal charges," Perry ruled.The high-profile case involving Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter and the president's niece has drawn the attention of privacy-rights advocates, drug counselors and law-enforcement officials. Drug counselors say confidentiality is essential to treatment. Prosecutors say the ruling will handicap crime investigations.Assistant State Attorney Jeff Ashton said his office fears that, if the judge's decision stands, it will severely handicap the ability of police and prosecutors to investigate crimes."The reason we are appealing is because this has broad implications," Ashton said."We basically are being told that law enforcement and the state attorney have no business in questioning what is going on in drug treatment," he said. "We've been told to let drug-treatment centers police themselves. That's disturbing."Ashton said the judge's ruling interpreted crimes to mean those that did not involve drugs."That will be the focus of our appeal," Ashton said. "The judge seemed to imply that if you stole a purse, you could be prosecuted. But if patients sold drugs to other patients, we wouldn't be able to do anything."The state attorney subpoenaed four workers at the Center for Drug-Free Living after they refused to answer police questions Sept. 9 about reports that a center staffer found crack cocaine in the shoe of Bush, 25.When center officials refused to cooperate, the State Attorney's Office asked the court to force them to testify. At the center's request, Perry closed a hearing during which attorneys for both sides argued their cases.The Orlando Sentinel argued that the hearing should be open to the public and asked for a transcript of the proceedings.Perry also ruled Monday that he had properly closed the hearing, and he released edited transcripts with all mention of drug-treatment clients and their comments removed.The Sentinel withdrew its motion Monday after Perry released the transcripts.Bush entered Orange County's drug-court program in February after police said she tried to pass a fake prescription for the anti-anxiety drug Xanax at a Tallahassee pharmacy in January.Drug courts allow patients to clear their criminal records by complying with strict drug-rehabilitation programs. In Orange, the center administers treatment for drug-court patients and regularly reports progress to a judge.Perry acknowledged in his ruling that the decision could extend to other treatment centers and law-enforcement officers.The judge ruled, among other things, that state statutes allow the center to report a patient's drug possessions to the drug court, not police.At a campaign stop in Orlando on Monday, Gov. Bush said he was pleased that workers were not compelled to testify against his daughter. "Putting aside my daughter for a second, this is a serious issue," he said."Our drug-court system is based on the fact that the road to recovery is a rocky one, that you're not going to have every case having a perfect record. In fact, if you look at the drug-court process, very few do," he said."In the treatment facility, if counselors are required to report every violation, then it makes treatment very difficult to work," he said.Carlos Burruezo, attorney and board chairman for the center, said he was pleased with the judge's ruling."We thought Judge Perry's decision was well thought out," Burruezo said.The drug-rehabilitation community saw Monday's ruling as a victory."Obviously, we're very pleased that the judge reviewed federal confidentiality statutes and saw that this particular case did not call for an exemption," said Ronald Hunsicker, president of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers.Luis Delgado, a Seminole County drug counselor and emcee of a weekly radio and TV talk show, also cheered the judge's decision."I like it that the center wins at this point because it's so hard to get sober and clean in the first place," he said.One national law-enforcement advocate said the issues in this case -- perhaps the first time the confidentiality vs. crime-investigation conflict has been addressed -- represent long-running battles across the country."It comes down to the problem of having a drug war and the Constitution at the same time," said Peter Christ, a retired New York police chief and a spokesman for ReconsiDer: Forum on Drug Policy.Randy Means, spokesman for the State Attorney's Office, said prosecutors had not received political pressure in this case."No one was pressured one way or another," Means said.He said his office had received a handful of calls from the community, but said none were political in nature."It's unfortunate that it's the governor's daughter," he said.For now, the ruling has shut down the Orlando police investigation."This is not the first court decision that has been rendered against them," said Capt. Robert Gregory, head of the drug-enforcement division.Gregory said the investigation would be completed in the next few days. In part the report will read, Gregory said, "Inactive. No further action required."Sean Mussenden contributed to this report.Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)Author: Doris Bloodsworth & Pedro Ruz Gutierrez, Staff WritersPublished: October 1, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Orlando SentinelContact: insight orlandosentinel.comWebsite: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/Related Articles:Judge Upholds Privacy for Jeb Bush's Daughterhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14317.shtmlEmployees of Drug Center Can Remain Silent http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14309.shtmlA Crack House Divided - Arianna Huffingtonhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14127.shtml 
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Comment #2 posted by Dave in Florida on October 01, 2002 at 17:24:56 PT
Why don't they ask
.. the other patients if they would testify?.. seems logical to me.. jeb has got the staff paid off, but probalbly not the clients.. Oh I can here it now "why should we believe them, there drug users, there testimony is not valid".. But informant testimony sure seems to work to put them in rehab to start with..
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Comment #1 posted by p4me on October 01, 2002 at 11:07:05 PT
Monday, Day 16 of the DEfenders' trial
DE trial day 16 - near the end now.....As expected, the other 4 defence counsel (for Steve, Phil, Roo and Robin - in that order) gave their summing up this morning. All of them have told the jury that Judge Fish will give them legal direction on a number of points, so he sent jury and defendants off for an afternoon in the last of the September Sun while he got HIS speech ready.....I don't think he's going to go on that long, though i guess he doesn't want to leave any grounds for appeal that he can avoid (that's his job) ...and the jury should be "out" sometime tomorrow.How long it will take them is anybody's guess - [I expect to be stuck in the golf-buggy (did u like Europe beating Bush's Buddies?) on the local car park 4 most of the next few days tho' i'm sure i'll get a run after 4.30].woof,woof
Billy Barker
news'ound1,2
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