July 17, 1997

O'Connor Describes His Late Son's Descent Into Drug
Addiction

Courts: Actor tells jury in slander case that he had come to recognize when
the younger man was under the influence.

Speaking in a confident, distinct voice that contrasted sharply
with the tragic tale he told, actor Carroll O'Connor on
Wednesday began describing for a jury his son's descent into the
drug addiction that ultimately led the young man to take his own life.

O'Connor said that after 16 years of struggling with his son
Hugh's substance abuse, he had come to recognize the faraway
stare that came when Hugh was high.
"I used to say, 'Hey kid, you're giving me the high beams again,'
" O'Connor said. "Then he'd put on some glasses."
O'Connor is being sued for slander by Harry Perzigian, 41, a
musician arrested and convicted of supplying cocaine to Hugh
O'Connor, who shot himself in the head during his final cocaine
binge. Hugh O'Connor, 33, died on March 28, 1995his third
wedding anniversary.
Shortly thereafter, Carroll O'Connor blamed Perzigian for
supplying his son with the drugs that he felt led to his death. He
called the Brentwood man a "sleazeball" and a "partner in murder."
O'Connor's testimony in a Los Angeles courtroom was
interrupted late Wednesday when Perzigian's lawyer, Allan Sigel,
announced that his client "had an appointment."
As Perzigian left the courtroom, he was taken into custodyout
of jurors' sightby sheriff's deputies who had come to arrest him on
a $50,000 bench warrant issued by Santa Monica Superior Court
Judge Richard Neidorf. The warrant alleged that Perzigian had
violated probation in his drug case when he was arrested June 7 for
driving under the influence.
Sigel said his client would probably spend the night in jail but
would be back in court today. "If Harry had not been on the news,
this never would have happened,' he said.
Perzigian, whose testimony began Tuesday and continued
through most of Wednesday morning, denied being a drug dealer
and claimed that his arrest in the O'Connor case and the public
spotlight had traumatized him. He said he had had to seek
psychiatric treatment.
He also acknowledged that he had held a "one for the gipper"
cocaine party hours after Hugh O'Connor's death. And, under
crossexamination by O'Connor's lawyer, Lucy Inman, he
acknowledged that he had shared drug costs with his friend, and
had accepted several checks. Some of the checks, he said, also
covered the cost of stereo equipment and concert tickets.
Perzigian said he isn't suing O'Connor for the money. Instead, he
told jurors, "My purpose is to set the record right . . . to clear my
name." He also said he wished to prove "that I have a legitimate
income, I'm a hardworking person. I'm not a murderer."
Late in the afternoon, O'Connor took the stand and answered
Sigel's questions about his son's struggle with drugs and alcohol.
Sigel said he called the actor to show that Hugh O'Connor had
become addicted long before he met Perzigian, and could easily
obtain cocaine even when Perzigian was thousands of miles away.
O'Connor testified that he had been aware of his son's drug use
since he caught him smoking marijuana when he was 16. "I said I
didn't want to see it around anymore," the actor said.
As his son grew older, O'Connor said, he began showing signs
of cocaine use. "We had always been very close," he said.
"Suddenly, he was unavailable."
In 1987, O'Connor tried to remove his son from the Los
Angeles drug scene by giving him a part on his show, "In the Heat
of the Night," which was being filmed in Georgia. But drugs were
rampant on the set, O'Connor said.

Copyright Los Angeles Times
Jim Rosenfield