Singer denies guilt

Press, 13 June 1986, Page 6

Singer denies guilt

NZPA-AP Los Angeles Cathy Evelyn Smith, a former drug addict and rock back-up singer, pleaded no contest yesterday to involuntary manslaughter and three drug charges in the death by overdose of the comedian, John Belushi, but she conceded no guilt. “Miss Smith in no way concedes she is responsible for Mr Belushi’s death,” her lawyer, Howard Weitzman, told Superior Court Judge David Horowitz. Smith, aged 38, was ordered to undergo a probation study and sentenc-

ing was scheduled for August 18. The no-contest pleas are the criminal equivalent of a guilty plea but cannot be used against her in civil suits. A Deputy District Attorney, Elden Fox, said he would ask that she be sentenced to three years jail for the death of Belushi, the rotund “Saturday Night Live” star whose body was found more than four years ago in a bungalow above the Sunset Strip. Mr Weitzman was expected to request probation with no prison time. In a plea bargain struck

between Messrs Weitzman and Fox, Smith agreed to enter pleas to reduced charges: the involuntary manslaughter count and three counts of furnishing and administering a controlled substance — the speedball injections “of heroin and cocaine. Smith originally was charged with second-de-gree murder and 13 counts of furnishing and injecting Belushi with drugs, but Mr Fox said the prosecution had agreed to a negotiated plea to involuntary manslaughter because of recent appellate rulings.