Belushi’s Death

The charge: second degree

One year ago this month on Sunset Boulevard, after a sleepless drug-and-liquor binge, John Belushi was injected with a “speedball,” a potent mixture of heroin and cocaine. Early that afternoon the wasted comedian was dead in his hotel bed, and a Hollywood hanger-on named Cathy Smith was in Los Angeles police custody. But Smith, who had been with Belushi all night, was not charged with any crime. Two months later, the tabloid National Enquirer reportedly paid her $15,000 for an interview. The paper quoted her (inaccurately, she claims) as saying that she had given Belushi the fatal hypodermic dose.

Last week that disputed admission caught up with her: a Los Angeles grand jury indicted Smith for murder and 13 counts of administering a dangerous drug. On Friday night, Smith, a Canadian citizen, surrendered to police in Toronto. Her extradition battle could keep her in Canada at least until June.

Evidence against Smith, 35, includes the National Enquirer’s interview tapes and the grand jury testimony of Nelson Lyon, a former writer for the TV show Saturday Night Live who apparently has been given immunity from prosecution. Lyon partied with Belushi during the hours before he died. According to people involved in the case, Lyon testified that he saw Smith inject Belushi with drugs.

Nonetheless, with no suggestion that Belushi was drugged against his will, California criminal lawyers believe that the murder case against Smith will be hard to make. But there is a precedent: in 1980 the state court of appeals upheld the second-degree murder conviction of a man who had furnished an unintentionally fatal overdose of heroin to a friend. “California,” said Los Angeles Attorney Robert Sheahen, who has represented Smith, “stands virtually alone in making this kind of thing murder.” Says Smith: “They’re trying to find a scapegoat.”