Lawyer Hints ‘Other Person’ Responsible in Belushi Death

The attorney for Cathy Evelyn Smith, accused of murder in the drug overdose death of John Belushi, indicated Friday that he may argue that someone else was responsible for the comedian’s death.

“I think the possibility exists that some other person, besides Cathy Smith, was responsible for Belushi’s death,” the attorney, Howard Weitzman, told reporters gathered outside court shortly before Smith was freed on $50,000 bail.

“I guess ‘some other person’ could include Belushi,” Weitzman said.

The attorney said he “would never argue that the man took his own life on purpose, but I think the possibilities (of who injected Belushi with the overdose) range from Mr. Belushi to persons other than Cathy Smith.

“I have some people in mind who I think are potential candidates,” Weitzman said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Montagna, who is prosecuting Smith, dismissed Weitzman’s comments.

Weitzman said that Smith was freed when “someone she does not know,” who believes she is being wrongly prosecuted, volunteered to post a bond for her. She was ordered to report to Los Angeles Superior Court on Feb. 11 to enter a plea.

The defense attorney said he will decide by then whether to advise her to contest the murder charge or to accept a plea bargain to a lesser offense--involuntary manslaughter--which has been offered by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Belushi, 33, was found dead in his $200-a-day bungalow at the Chateau Marmont Hotel in West Hollywood on March 5, 1982. A coroner’s report attributed the death to acute heroin and cocaine intoxication.

After Smith, 38, was quoted in the National Enquirer as saying she injected Belushi with a fatal “speedball,” a mixture of heroin and cocaine, the Los Angeles County Grand Jury indicted her for murder.

By then, Smith had moved to Toronto. Eleven days ago, she abandoned an extradition fight and returned voluntarily to Los Angeles after her Canadian attorney, Brian Greenspan, worked out a plea-bargain arrangement with the district attorney’s office.

But Weitzman said his review of still-secret grand jury transcripts has left him uncertain whether Smith should honor the deal.