Pasco Man doing 25 years for Drug Trafficking Seeks Clemency
Author Unknown
The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –
A Pasco County man with multiple sclerosis who was convicted of drug trafficking for having a large stash of prescription drugs he said were for pain should receive clemency, his family said Thursday.
Richard Paey has served four years of a 25-year minimum mandatory sentence for drug trafficking. The former lawyer and father of three injured his back in a 1985 car crash and has said he has pain from that in addition to his multiple sclerosis. He argued in court that only large amounts of strong narcotics eased that pain.
Prosecutors alleged that using forged prescriptions to obtain so many pills meant he had to be selling them. Paey said he got undated prescription forms from a New Jersey doctor because Florida physicians were reluctant to prescribe drugs in the amounts he needs.
In a hearing before clemency staff, Paey's wife and children said the four years he's already served are enough.
"I would like to have him home, so we don't have to spend another 21 and a half years without him," his daughter, Katherine Paey said. "Because he's already missing … us growing up. And he's missed birthdays. And, you know, just us being without him is painful."
Richard Paey, who is now wheelchair-bound, appealed his conviction, but the Florida Supreme Court in March declined to hear the case.
The clemency staff can recommend his case to Gov. Charlie Crist and the clemency board, which could then take it up and has the power to order him released early. A final decision isn't likely for months.
"I'm hoping that his name is cleared which may not be done," said his wife, Linda Paey. "But I would hope at the very least he could spend his days with his wife - myself and the children."
