PAEY CLEMENCY PLEA TO BE HEARD BY BOARD

Gov. Charlie Crist will hear the clemency request of Richard Paey, who
is serving a 25-year drug trafficking sentence for illegally obtaining
painkillers he said he needed for his chronic pain.

The Governor's Office announced Friday that a waiver was granted
allowing the Hudson man's case to be heard by the Florida Board of
Executive Clemency.

Paey was arrested in 1997 after buying more than 1,200 pills with fake
prescriptions. But he turned down a lenient plea deal on principle,
was convicted in 2004 and got the mandatory sentence.

Paey's lawyer will ask the board to commute his sentence to time
served and throw out a $500,000 fine. The clemency board, formed by
the governor and Cabinet, could hear Paey's case as early as Sept. 20.
Paey got the news on Friday.

"He was guardedly optimistic," said his attorney, John Flannery II.