TB Test Delays Hearing in 1981 Slayings Case
Former Hollywood nightclub owner Eddie Nash, twice acquitted in the slayings of four people at a Laurel Canyon drug den in 1981, is undergoing tests in the San Bernardino County Jail’s medical ward to determine if he has tuberculosis.
The 71-year-old Nash, who suffers from emphysema, tested positive for TB Monday when he was taken to Los Angeles federal court for a bail hearing.
The proceeding was called off after the test results became known. Tuberculosis can be communicated through the air.
Defense co-counsel Bradley Brunon said Tuesday that Nash had a bout with TB about 40 years ago. He said that the initial skin test is not conclusive and that further tests would determine whether Nash is suffering from a new occurrence.
A federal grand jury last week returned a 16-count racketeering indictment against Nash, reviving allegations that he directed the Laurel Canyon deaths in retaliation for a $1-million theft of drugs and jewels.
Nash was tried twice in the slayings. In the first trial, the jury deadlocked 11 to 1 for conviction. He was acquitted in the second trial. The indictment accuses Nash of bribing the holdout juror in the first trial, along with trafficking drugs and other crimes.
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