THIRD TRIAL ENDS IN 15 GUILTY VERDICTS

A Law School Graduate With Chronic Pain Is Convicted In A Case Involving
Thousands Of Prescription Painkillers

NEW PORT RICHEY - Richard Paey waited for the jury to return its verdict,
sitting in his wheelchair in the courtroom. He pored over the pages of law
books long after they left for their deliberations Thursday night.

Three hours and 15 minutes later, they returned. None looked at him.

Paey, who suffers from chronic pain after a car crash and subsequent
botched back surgery, bought more than 1,200 painkillers between January
and March 1997. Because of the number of painkillers involved, he faces a
mandatory minimum prison sentence of 25 years.

On the first count of drug trafficking, they found him not guilty. Then
came 15 guilty verdicts for drug trafficking, obtaining a controlled
substance by fraud and possession of controlled substances.

Paey sprawled his upper body on the defense table and sobbed.

His wife Linda Paey said Friday that her husband is "collateral damage in
the war on drugs."

"What is a prison sentence going to teach him? Not to be in pain?"

Paey, now 45 and a father of three, was arrested in March 1997 and had two
previous trials. Prosecutors initially had offered Paey probation, which he
refused. His first trial resulted in a mistrial. The second trial resulted
in a conviction that was overturned. Prosecutors made Paey another offer:
five years in prison. He declined.

Her husband needed to fight the charges, believing they were misguided,
Linda Paey said.

"He felt he was a victim of the whole system and he needed to take a stand.
These are people who have legitimate problems. These aren't people doing
recreational drugs," she said. "We had the finances to help defend him and
he felt like he should be the one."

Paey is a graduate of the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania but
was unable to take the bar because of the car crash and subsequent
surgeries, which caused him to rely on prescription painkillers. Linda Paey
works as an ophthalmologist.

In trial number three on the drug charges, closing arguments centered on
the credibility of the state's star witness, Dr. Steven Neurkowicz. In
1997, investigators from the Drug Enforcement Agency questioned Neurkowicz
about the large number of prescriptions for painkillers written to Paey.
Neurkowicz, who treated Paey in New Jersey, admitted that he violated
federal law by sending undated prescriptions to Paey in Florida for
Percocet, Lortab and Valium.

"But when the penalty became losing his practice, he threw my client to the
wolves," argued Robert Attridge, Paey's attorney. Neurkowicz testified that
Paey forged prescriptions. Investigators found photocopied blank
prescriptions and letterhead from Neurkowicz's office at Paey's home in Hudson.

Paey did legal work for Neurkowicz in New Jersey and continued helping him
with paperwork after moving to Florida in 1994. Paey claimed Neurkowicz
authorized the prescriptions when he couldn't find a doctor in Florida who
would take him on as a patient.

Attridge listed the number of inconsistencies in Neurkowicz's testimony.
The doctor initially denied he wrote undated prescriptions and prescribed
400 pills at a time. Later testimony as well as medical charts contradicted
those assertions. On the stand, Neurkowicz also was confused as to whether
he verified certain prescriptions.

"You had the ability to watch him testify," Attridge told the jury. "What a
reckless disregard for the truth. What a minimal effort he put in to giving
you accurate answers."

But Assistant State Attorney Scott Andringa painted the picture of a naive
family doctor who was "trusting to a fault" and exploited by Paey. It is
Paey who has an Ivy League law degree and, with it, the cunning to forge
prescriptions, Andringa said.

"Neurkowicz was vulnerable and Paey knew it," he added.

Although he hasn't taken the bar exam because of his injuries, Paey helped
Neurkowicz with office legal matters. That access helped Paey obtain
letterhead and blank prescriptions which could later be photocopied,
Andringa said.

Because Paey obtained more than 28 grams of a controlled substance, Circuit
Judge Daniel Diskey must sentence him to at least 25 years under the law.

Linda Paey holds out hope a lesser penalty can be worked out before his
April 16 sentencing.

"He was a sick suffering guy looking for some help," she said. "You'd think
there would be some humanity in the system."