Pubdate: Thu, 03 Oct 2002
Source: Deseret News (UT)
Copyright: 2002 Deseret News Publishing Corp.
Contact:  http://www.desnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/124

OPEN COURT MAY DETAIL A BUSH DRUG TREATMENT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Noelle Bush's drug treatment workers may not be 
forced to tell police officers about whether she had cocaine in her shoe -- 
but nothing is stopping investigators or anyone else from learning more 
details in open court.

Gov. Jeb Bush's only daughter must give a judge an update on her drug 
treatment next week. Anyone can sit in on the hearing and learn facts that 
a judge ruled can't be disclosed by drug treatment workers, legal experts 
said Wednesday.

"Can a prosecutor go to the court and listen to that? Yeah, because it's an 
open court," said Bruce J. Winick, a law professor at the University of Miami.

Circuit Judge Belvin Perry ruled Monday that four drug rehab workers aren't 
required to tell investigators whether Noelle Bush, 25, was found with a 
piece of crack cocaine in her shoe last month.

In a case closely watched by drug counselors nationwide, Perry ruled that a 
drug treatment patient's right to privacy outweighs the interest of a 
criminal investigation.

Prosecutors plan to appeal, but the Orlando Police Department has placed 
the case on inactive status in the meantime.
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