Judge Drops Citations in Belushi Case

Contempt citations were lifted Monday, at least temporarily, from two writers who had refused to testify about interviews they conducted with Cathy Evelyn Smith, the Canadian woman accused of murder in the 1982 drug death of comedian John Belushi.

Before asking the court to reinstate the contempt orders, Los Angeles County prosecutors must show that the information they are seeking from the writers is not available from any other source, Los Angeles Municipal Judge Brian D. Crahan ruled.

In vacating his own contempt orders, issued June 11, Crahan cited a decision handed down Friday by the California Court of Appeal.

‘Not Specific’

The higher court, acting on the appeal of one of the writers, said Crahan’s contempt ruling was “not sufficiently specific” and “premature, as there has been no foundation showing the need for the information sought.”

Prosecutors preparing for Smith’s preliminary hearing are seeking the testimony of Anthony Brenna, a reporter for the National Enquirer, and Christopher Van Ness, a Los Angeles-based free-lancer who separately interviewed Smith, a former back-up vocalist, after Belushi’s death in West Hollywood on March 5, 1982. In hearings before Crahan, both men have refused to discuss their conversations with Smith.

An Enquirer article based on the interview conducted by Brenna and Larry Haley, another Enquirer reporter, quoted Smith as saying she repeatedly injected Belushi with speedballs--combinations of heroin and cocaine--in the hours before he died. Haley, who lives in Florida, is fighting a similar subpoena in Florida courts.