Cathy Smith Enters No-Contest Plea

With her attorney saying “it makes no sense to gamble with this lady’s life,” former rock groupie Cathy Evelyn Smith pleaded no contest Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter in the death of John Belushi and three counts of furnishing controlled substances to the comedian in the days and hours before his death.

“Miss Smith in no way concedes that she was responsible for Mr. Belushi’s death for the purposes of this plea, but she believes it (the plea) is in her best interests,” her attorney, Howard L. Weitzman, told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David A. Horowitz.

Outside the courtroom, Weitzman said that, even though he believes Smith would have been acquitted of causing Belushi’s death, his 39-year-old client agreed to a plea bargain to avoid a conviction on drug charges and a possible 10-year prison sentence.

“It is difficult for us to do, because we do believe we would have prevailed in the homicide,” the defense lawyer said. “However, . . . we could have won the battle, but lost the war because we believe she ultimately would have been convicted of one or more of the administering (of drugs) counts. . . .”

“It would make no sense to gamble with this lady’s life and go to trial,” Weitzman said later. “Sometimes you get juries that do the wrong thing.”

In exchange for Smith’s plea, prosecutors agreed to drop a second-degree murder charge and 10 additional counts of furnishing and administering drugs. Deputy Dist. Atty. Elden S. Fox said he would seek a three-year prison term out of a possible maximum sentence of eight years and eight months.

Horowitz set sentencing for Aug. 18.

A one-time heroin addict and backup vocalist, Smith was indicted by a Los Angeles County grand jury in March, 1983, a year after Belushi was found dead in a bungalow at the Chateau Marmont, a West Hollywood hotel.

Appearing tanned and relaxed, Smith, a Canadian citizen, declined to talk to reporters after Wednesday’s court session. She stood beside her lawyer as he explained further why the defendant decided to avoid a trial.

“She has strong feelings about dragging John Belushi’s name through the mud, putting his family through that trauma. . . ,” Weitzman said. “Cathy feels she has suffered enough. There’s no reason to put Belushi’s family and other persons through similar suffering.”

Asked why Smith accepted the same deal she had turned down when it was first offered in February, 1985, the attorney said it would have been wrong to plea bargain before the preliminary hearing.

“I had an obligation to test the evidence,” Weitzman said. “What if, for example, no witnesses showed up at the preliminary hearing?”

When the settlement was announced Monday, both sides said Smith had agreed to plead guilty. Fox said Weitzman informed him in the judge’s chambers before Wednesday’s session that he had decided to change the plea to no contest.

Although Horowitz pointed out to Smith that “a no-contest plea is the same as a guilty plea as far as this court or any other court is concerned,” Weitzman said the change in plea “makes a difference to Cathy.

“The difference is that Cathy is not admitting, and will not admit, that she was involved in the death of John Belushi in terms of being responsible,” he said.

Fox made a distinction between legal responsibility and moral responsibility.

”. . . She probably doesn’t have moral responsibility for his death,” the prosecutor said. “He was a consenting adult. . . . He was somebody that was abusing drugs--that’s never been an issue--and so was she. She’s had a chance to turn it around. He didn’t.”

Times staff writer Paul Feldman contributed to this article.