Belushi Case: 2 Face Contempt Hearings

Two writers face a contempt of court hearing after they repeatedly refused to answer key questions Tuesday at the opening session of Cathy Evelyn Smith’s preliminary hearing in the John Belushi murder case.

Los Angeles Municipal Judge Brian D. Crahan ordered National Enquirer writer Anthony Brenna and Los Angeles free lancer Christopher Van Ness to return to court June 6 to determine whether they will be held in contempt.

Both men, deemed essential witnesses by the prosecution, repeatedly cited First Amendment and state press shield law privileges for protecting confidential sources in declining to provide details of their interviews with Smith.

“The witness is basically held in contempt of court,” Crahan said after Van Ness refused to discuss even whether he knew Smith or to repeat information he gave to a Los Angeles County Grand Jury that investigated the comedian’s March, 1982, death from a drug overdose.

Second-Degree Murder Charge

Smith, 38, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Belushi, whose body was found in a bungalow at the Chateau Marmont hotel in West Hollywood.

In an article published in the Enquirer several months later, Smith, a backup singer, was quoted as saying she repeatedly injected the comic with “speed balls”--a mixture of heroin and cocaine--in the hours before he died.

The story was co-authored by Brenna, who is based in Los Angeles, and another Enquirer reporter, Larry Haley, a Florida resident. Van Ness interviewed Smith before the Enquirer article and had apparently attempted to sell his story to the Florida-based weekly tabloid publication.

Van Ness is suing the Enquirer for fraud for having allegedly lifted material from his interview without giving him adequate payment.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael J. Montagna, who has called the Enquirer story “the catalyst” that led to the filing of murder charges against Smith, argued that the writers had waived any privilege by having previously testified before the grand jury and by having published material culled from the interviews.

The Enquirer already has turned over tapes and transcripts of its interviews with Smith, Montagna said.

In Van Ness’ case, Montagna asserted, excerpts from a taped interview with Smith were broadcast by NBC after Van Ness had received a $500 payment from the network.

Tuesday’s opening session, at which Smith sat silently for much of the day next to her attorney, Howard L. Weitzman, was designed to deal with issues concerning the journalists’ shield privileges.

Two other Enquirer employees, Haley and editor Iain Calder, have also been called to testify by the district attorney’s office, but they are fighting the subpoenas in Florida.

If held in contempt, Van Ness and Brenna, who could first appeal the judge’s order to a higher court, would face possible fines or imprisonment.