NOELLE BUSH'S LAWYERS ASK JUDGE TO CLOSE DRUG COURT
HEARINGS

Noelle Bush's attorneys have asked a judge to bar the public from
court hearings on their client's drug treatment, saying media
attention violates her right to privacy, according to court records.

Peter Antonacci, one of three lawyers representing Gov. Jeb Bush's
only daughter, cited a judge's ruling this week that drug treatment
workers do not have to testify about a piece of crack cocaine
allegedly found in her shoe.

"This harsh glare of the public scrutiny is the exact evil that both
Congress and the Florida Legislature sought to remedy by enacting
broad confidentiality provisions to protect substance abuse patients,"
Antonacci said in court documents filed Friday.

Circuit Judge Reginald Whitehead, who supervises the county's drug
court, may decide to schedule a hearing next week on Antonacci's
motion, courts spokeswoman Karen Leavey told the Orlando Sentinel on
Saturday.

Noelle Bush is set to appear next week before Whitehead. He will
decide whether to keep Bush in the diversion drug treatment program or
send her to criminal court to face charges from a February arrest.
Bush was arrested for buying an anti-anxiety drug with a fraudulent
prescription at a Tallahassee pharmacy.

Orange Circuit Judge Belvin Perry ruled Monday that subpoenas for four
Center for Drug-Free Living employees were invalid, citing federal law
that protects a drug treatment patient's privacy.

The state attorney's office had subpoenaed the staffers after police
received a report from another patient on Sept. 9 that 25-year-old
Noelle Bush had the drug. Workers had refused to cooperate, citing
privacy concerns. One staff member wrote a statement for officers but
ripped it up after a supervisor intervened.

Prosecutors have appealed Perry's ruling.

"Unfortunately this happens to be the governor's daughter and we're
trying to figure out what the drug-court operating procedures are,"
said Randy Means, a state attorney's office spokesman. "There are some
questions now that have never been asked before, and they need to be
answered."

The governor's office has maintained that Noelle Bush's case is a
private matter. Katie Muniz, spokeswoman for Gov. Bush, said Saturday
the governor would not comment on Antonacci's motion.

David Bralow, an attorney representing the Orlando Sentinel, said
Noelle Bush's lawyers are asking the court to make an exemption to the
rule.

"They're trying to have a secret trial for Noelle Bush," Bralow said.
"If they are right, what happened to all the people who have been
through drug court? ... It seems to me they are asking for something
that no one else has had."