Victim of war on drugs granted pardon in Florida

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Richard Paey, a victim in the war on drugs, was granted a full, immediate and unexpected pardon by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet on Thursday, allowing him to get out of prison and be reunited with his family.

Paey, 49, has spent the past 3 ½ years in prison after his 2004 conviction on drug trafficking and possession charges for filling out fake prescriptions and possessing about 700 Percocet narcotic painkillers. He was to be imprisoned for 25 years.

The catch: Everyone, including judges, acknowledged the traffic-accident victim was using the pills for debilitating pain. Since his incarceration, prison doctors have hooked him up to a morphine drip, which delivers more pain medication daily than he was convicted of trafficking.

Paey suffers the pain from a 1985 car wreck, botched back surgery and multiple sclerosis.

The state's parole commission recommended denying clemency for Paey, who was only seeking to have his prison sentence commuted. But after his lawyer, wife and four children wept and pleaded for Paey's release, Crist and the Cabinet went further than Paey expected by unanimously agreeing to grant him a full pardon, meaning he'll have the right to vote and carry firearms.

They also acknowledged that the state's drug laws might be unfair.

"This is not a pleasant case," said Attorney General Bill McCollum, who noted that he supported mandatory-minimum sentences when he was in Congress. "Our laws are very much to blame."

But so are the prosecutors in Pasco County, said Paey's wife, Linda, who said she couldn't understand why they zealously pursued her husband through three trials despite the widespread acknowledgment that he was a pain victim and not a drug dealer.

"I've changed. I no longer trust the police. I don't trust the justice system," she said. "Only the media got our case right."

Crist, too, took a swipe at the prosecutors, saying the war on drugs isn't just to blame in cases such as this. "If they're prosecuted appropriately, then justice will be done," he said. "Obviously, this case cries out for a review of that process."

Material from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel is included in this report.