Posted on 10/03/2002 4:52:58 AM PDT by ijcr
WEST PALM BEACH -- When Damon Amedeo worked for the public defender's office, his job was to help defendants beat their drug habits.
But it was Amedeo's own penchant for consuming drugs that was his downfall.
On Wednesday, U.S. marshals took the lawyer, who helped establish the county's drug court, to jail after he pleaded guilty to providing cocaine to his new boss' son, Douglas Rozelle III. The 18-year-old Florida Atlantic University student was found dead in Amedeo's Washington Road apartment on Jan. 6 of an apparent drug overdose.
Amedeo's employer, private attorney Douglas Rozelle Jr., had asked Amedeo to help his son get off drugs after the Florida Atlantic University student was charged with possessing the tranquilizer Xanax. Rozelle's parents were clearly distraught in the courtroom and couldn't comment.
"It's all way too emotional for me," said the elder Rozelle, his eyes reddened with tears.
Amedeo, who appeared in federal court with spiky, gelled hair, will be officially sentenced in December. Federal guidelines recommend between 18 and 24 months in prison with a mandatory one year in custody for distributing cocaine to a person younger than 21. Prosecutors are expected to ask U.S. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley to give Amedeo a longer sentence.
The conviction probably will cause him to lose his law license as well, Hurley said.
And the 30-year-old's legal woes could be far from over. A state prosecutor huddled with police outside Hurley's courtroom before the hearing. They have been pursuing state murder charges against the attorney, according to court documents.
But Mike Edmondson, spokesman for the state attorney's office, said, "At this time, the state doesn't anticipate pursuing charges."
Amedeo detailed his life woes to Hurley on Wednesday, saying he had undergone chemotherapy for Hepatitis C that he contracted at the Palm Beach County Jail when he was an assistant public defender. He said the therapy, which he completed shortly before Rozelle's death, caused him tremendous mental problems, and that he now is being treated for clinical depression.
He told the judge the last time he used illegal drugs was in January.
After Amedeo called 911 to report that Rozelle was dead on Jan. 6, police found drug paraphernalia and a videotape of Rozelle and Amedeo snorting cocaine and smoking marijuana last fall. Before Amedeo called police, however, he went out for smoothies in the morning with friends and made comments that he thought Rozelle might be dead back in the apartment, according to federal prosecutors.
When he returned, he took the time to hide marijuana pipes in cereal boxes before calling 911, prosecutors said.
Attorney Jack Goldberger, who represents Amedeo, said the former public defender admitted only to sharing drugs with Rozelle and maintains his client had nothing to do with the college student's death.
"They can look all they want," Goldberger said. "I don't think there is any indication at all he had anything to do with this young man's unfortunate death."
According to the Sun Sentinel
Amedeo was helping navigate Douglas D. Rozelle III through the court system after the teenager was arrested on drug-related charges. Rozelle's mother dropped her son off at Amedeo's apartment on Jan.5, thinking her son needed to maintain contact with Amedeo so the drug charges would be dropped, according to court documents.
Amedeo told West Palm Beach police that he had sex with Rozelle and then they both went to sleep, wrote West Palm Beach police Detective Amy Sinnott.
A totally new slant on marrying the Boss's daughter.
After all transmission occurs when blood or body fluids from an infected person enters the body of a person who is not infected.
It is very sick.
from the comment on post one:
>>>Amedeo told West Palm Beach police that he had sex with Rozelle and then they both went to sleep, wrote West Palm Beach police Detective Amy Sinnott.<<<<
My guess is he's been a fudgepacker more than once.
Sorry to be so blunt, but hey that's homosexuality!
Has not the possibility of shared paper cuts crossed your mind ? Perhaps it was an errant staple? A handshake? A fleeting hug? The toilet seat? An unsupressed cough?
I don't think so either.
Now that's an interesting thought! Perhaps that's why staplers are named Swingline!!!
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