Pubdate: Tue, 01 Oct 2002
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2002 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Authors: Doris Bloodsworth and Pedro Ruz Gutierrez, Sentinel Staff
Writers

JUDGE SHUTS DOWN INVESTIGATION OF NOELLE BUSH

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."
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