Ruling: Noelle Bush's hearing should be open to public
By The Associated Press
10.16.02
ORLANDO, Fla. — Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter cannot have her drug court hearings closed to the public, a judge ruled yesterday.
Circuit Judge Reginald Whitehead said that hearings in Florida's drug courts are criminal proceedings and are open to the public. He weighed the patient's right to privacy against the public's right to access to court proceedings.
"Drug court status hearings must be open to all participants so that all participants can observe each other's successes and failures," the judge wrote.
Whitehead scheduled a hearing for tomorrow to determine if 25-year-old Noelle Bush can stay in her drug treatment program or whether she will be returned to the regular criminal justice system.
Attorneys for Noelle Bush had asked the judge to close her drug court hearings, arguing that the governor's daughter had the right to expect privacy.
But the Orlando Sentinel and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel argued that drug courts were no different from criminal courts and subject to the same openness.
Noelle Bush was placed in the drug court system after she was accused of trying to use a forged prescription to buy the anti-anxiety drug Xanax at a pharmacy drive-through window in January. She has been undergoing treatment at a rehab center in Orlando.
Bush was sent to jail for two days in July after center workers found her with prescription pills. Last month, a caller told Orlando police that Bush had a piece of crack in her shoe, but a judge later ruled that workers at the center cannot be forced to testify in court about Bush's case.
In interviews yesterday, the governor said that his daughter's battle with drugs has strained his family. But he accepted the judge's decision.
"The judge had to make that determination. All I can tell you is it's a lot harder to deal with drug addictions with these big lights, but it's his court," Bush said at a campaign stop. "The sad fact is, and the good news is, that frankly cameras and reporters aren't as interested in the other people in drug court, so they have some degree of privacy to be able to cope with their addictions."
The governor said his daughter has not received preferential treatment. "In fact, as a father my concern is to make sure that she's treated as she should be treated and people don't go overboard because of who she is to treat her differently," he said.
Bush said his daughter's addiction is difficult to handle as a father.
"I see pictures of her when she was 3 or 4 four years old and I vividly remember that," Bush said. "But now she's 25 and the laws apply to her as they apply to anyone else. I just hope the laws apply to her like anybody else."