Scott Andringa for Judge?

The prosecutor who sent Richard Paey to prison wants a promotion.

Radley Balko | January 3, 2011

When the SWAT team came for Richard Paey in 1997, it battered down the front door of the home in Pasco County, Florida, where he lived with his wife, Linda, an optometrist, and their two children. Paey is a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair after a car accident and botched back surgery. He also suffers from multiple sclerosis. The cops were there because Paey was accused of distributing the medication he used to treat his chronic pain, even though there was no evidence he had sold or given away a single pill. Thanks to Florida's draconian drug laws and mandatory minimum sentences, he was eventually convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Paey's prosecution was an outrage, attracting attention not only here at Reason and among drug policy reform organizations but also from The New York Times and 60 Minutes. In 2007, after Paey had served nearly four years of his sentence, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist gave him a full pardon. Yet Scott Andringa, who prosecuted the case as an assistant state attorney in New Port Richey, has never expressed the slightest regret or remorse for imposing what was effectively a life sentence on a man who no one really thought was a drug trafficker. In fact, Andringa, now a defense attorney in private practice, brags about his efforts to imprison Paey on his professional website, noting that he "was the prosecutor assigned to a controversial drug trafficking case that was later profiled on 60 Minutes, Nightline and in the New York Times."

And now he wants to be a judge. On December 13, Andringa announced his candidacy in the 2012 election for Pinellas County judge. The position currently is held by Andringa's father, who is retiring.

In his prosecution of Paey, Andringa showed a lack of discretion and a zeal to obtain the maximum possible sentence without regard to justice. At the time of his arrest, Paey was undergoing high-dose opioid therapy, a relatively new form of treatment for chronic pain that titrates doses upward as a patient develops tolerance. The tolerance eventually plateaus, but at that point the patient is taking large doses of narcotics every day, enough to kill someone who has not built up the same tolerance. Paey initially was under the care of a New Jersey physician but found it difficult to find treatment when his family moved to Florida, a state overcome by anti-opioid hysteria. Depending on whom you believe, either Paey's New Jersey doctor illegally sent him several prescriptions to continue his treatment or Paey forged those prescriptions. In any case, a local pharmacist, alarmed at the volume of medication Paey was taking, tipped off the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

Although Andringa has conceded he had no evidence Paey was selling or giving away medication, Florida law allowed him to charge Paey with distribution because of the alleged forgeries and the volume of medication he possessed. But simply because the law allows a charge does not mean it is merited or in the interests of justice. And here is where Andringa's discretion comes into question.

Over the years, Andringa has said he is "proud" of putting Richard Paey in prison, that he has "no personal or professional" regret about the case, and that he's certain his office "did the right thing." Here's an excerpt from an interview I did with Paey in 2007, shortly after he was pardoned, describing his time in prison:

I went more than 30 days in solitary where the lights were on the entire time. [Note: Paey was never told why he was put in solitary confinement, but he believes it was punishment for telling his story to New York Times columnist John Tierney.] It was this callous indifference of a particular officer. And other things, like slamming the doors when they do security checks. They come by every hour and give your door a loud kick. When you're inside a cell and someone comes by and gives that big iron door a kick once an hour, the sound just ricochets between your ears. So systematic sleep deprivation is common. I would see men go into solitary and when they came out weeks later, their hair would be completely gray...

This place looked like a bomb shelter. Solid cement walls, no windows. You get in through a small hatch. I was pushed inside, and that became my home until Linda's calls persuaded the doctor to come and see me in August. One of the doctors told me the heat index in there was 105. There's no air conditioning. I'm in a cell where there's no air movement. To survive, you strip down to your boxers. You use sink water to soak rags and put them on the back of your neck. They feed you through a slot in the door. There are no bars like in the movies. It's all solid, cement walls and doors. That's where I stayed for two weeks until I started passing out. After that, they moved me to the hospital.

When a reporter from Tampa's Weekly Planet asked Andringa about Paey's case in 2004, he said, "As a [prosecutor], you normally charge the highest crime that you can prove." That's one way of approaching the job. Another would be to charge someone with a crime only when doing so serves justice. (Andringa did not respond to a request for comment.)

The injustice of treating Paey as a drug trafficker is clear from the enormous disparity between the sentence he received and the punishment he would have gotten under a plea deal that Andringa offered him. Under the deal, Paey would have received only probation and counseling if he admitted he was a drug addict and pleaded guilty to attempted drug distribution. Paey refused because he had not attempted to distribute drugs and, more important to him, he was not an addict. He was a patient. He was no more addicted to pain medication than a diabetic is addicted to insulin. The pills merely helped him live a more normal life. When Paey refused the plea bargain, Andringa still could have gone to trial only on the attempted distribution charge, or he could have prosecuted Paey for forgery. He could have chosen not to prosecute Paey at all. Instead, he threw the book at Paey—a punishment for his obstinacy. Here is Andringa, again in the Weekly Planet:

I understand someone wanting to have their day in court. But they have to accept that with that there's a risk, and in the case of Richard Paey it was a 25-year mandatory minimum, which he knowingly and willingly accepted...We made a decision based on laws passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor. We made the right filing decision as evidenced by the jury's verdict.

The state tried Paey three times before it got a conviction, and then only after the jury foreman assured his fellow jurors that the sentence would be no worse than probation. As Paey noted in his interview with me, Andringa used some form of the phrase drug addict eight times in his closing argument. He charged Paey as a trafficker but was clearly trying him for being an addict. Even assuming the facts most unfavorable to Paey, he was neither. At worst, he was guilty of forging prescriptions, and not to get high but to get the medical treatment he needed. That he required such treatment is not in dispute. While in prison, he received morphine via a subdermal pump, and the dose was higher than what he had been taking before he was arrested. "It became a comedy of bureaucracies," Paey told me. "One agency prosecutes me for taking too much medication. And that was their explanation—that my dose was too high for one person to be taking, therefore I must be selling it....Then I get to prison, and the doctors examine my records and my medical history, and they decide that as doctors, they have to give me this medication...in higher doses than what I'd been getting before."

Andringa was not bound by Florida's rigid laws. He had discretion about which charges to file, and he could have asked the judge to waive the mandatory minimum 25-year sentence in Paey's case, but he didn't. Andringa is a drug warrior. He was taking advantage of a sweeping law to punish a man he thought was an addict, a man who had the gall to insist on his constitutional right to a trial.

Andringa recently started a blog to coincide with his campaign for judge. In a post titled "Thoughts About 'The System,'" he chastises those who say the criminal justice system is flawed. Andringa explains that "The System" is run by "a group of people who are as capable, or fallible, as any other group of people one might find in any other business, industry or enterprise." He adds:

This is not merely an academic discussion; the criminal justice system is overburdened and underfunded. When mistakes are made, time is wasted, scarce resources are squandered and the primary and axiomatic mission of the criminal justice system; to see that justice is done, is thwarted.

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Christina|1.3.11 @ 10:56AM|#

Andringa is the kind of man who exemplifies egregious abuses of power by the state. The idea of him being given sentencing power is horrifying.

|1.3.11 @ 12:10PM|#

Rest assured....he'll be a shoe-in! Thank the lord that he provides these selfless servants for the Kafkaesque justice system he champions!

Fuck you Mr. Adringa

|1.3.11 @ 12:12PM|#

"he" being Mr. Andringa who champions the "system"....not god whom I hope is very displeased!

|1.3.11 @ 12:48PM|#

Yeah, 'cause God obviously cares. His "displeasure" will be of great help to Paey from his cell watching Andringa assume his new judgeship, expensive car, and new home.

And, of course, that's just your assumption that he's displeased.
Funny, because Andringa's assumption (along with other cops, prosecutors, and judges) is that he's pleased with his prosecutions of criminals and making the streets safe from (non) drug addicts for 25 years.

Hmm, but I thought that God is ineffable and his mind is unknowable to us peons, so how could we ever take comfort in knowing what God is thinking?
Shit, this whole religion thing isn't working at all, it's got more logical holes than a Michael Bay movie. Wait, wait, okay, I got it--we'll tell them he's testing Paey.

See, when God gets bored he likes to shake his ant farm and watch the ants freak out. The stupid ants tell each other that which doesn't kill them makes them faith-ier and convince themselves they've got the best ant-farm owner ever.

Wow, so now that I look at it, in this case God is either an asshole, useless, or doesn't exist. So, yeah, I feel much better about Paey being in prison now, thanks fish.

|1.3.11 @ 1:06PM|#

I can only guess from you're response that the priest touched your pee pee!

Jeez dude?

"And, of course, that's just your assumption that he's displeased."

Yeah!

Easy...say three "Hail Dawkins", and ask for a dispensation from St. Hitchens....I'm sure it will calm and center you!

Well maybe...next time the "farm" gets shaken try and sit away from the glass....apparently it hurts when you hit it!

I'm glad you feel better....after all thats my job here!

Seriously...take a fucking valium it's too early in the new year to be this big a teenaged asshole!

Imp of the Perverse|1.5.11 @ 12:27AM|#

God once sent a couple of bears to slay forty two children for calling the prophet Elisha a "baldhead". Sending a poor cripple to jail is amateur stuff.

Old Salt|1.3.11 @ 12:08PM|#

I love America but every time I log on to Reason I get the urge to scream for revolution!

Almanian|1.3.11 @ 1:53PM|#

Close enough - DRINK!

What kind of animal are you to prosecute a sick man in great pain for attempting to relieve that pain? I mean, really...what are you?

Wind Rider|1.3.11 @ 12:29PM|#

I'd vote for it indicating more his choice of sex partners, than actually being an animal, himself. Of course, there appears to be little actual evidence that Andringa fucks sheep, or goats, or enjoys shoving hamsters through a PVC tube into his anus, and gets his jollies from their panicked death throes. . .

The Mossy Spaniard|1.3.11 @ 12:39PM|#

By Andringa's own astute reasoning, we don't actually have to prove that he's not a bestialist. However, there is no compelling evidence that Scott Andringa is a homosexual necrophile.

Almanian|1.3.11 @ 1:55PM|#

An addict. A SEX addict. I bet that's it. What evidence do we have - or not have - that Adringa engages in homosexual, necropheliac pedophelia? Hmmmm?

GUILTY, I SAY!

Kristen|1.3.11 @ 2:21PM|#

So, just to be sure I'm clear: we're not not saying Scott Andriga engages in homosexual necorphilia with male farm animals? That there's no unclear non-exculpatory evidence of Scott Andriga's alleged penchant for buggery of all sorts?

The Mossy Spaniard|1.3.11 @ 3:42PM|#

Correct, but I should add that Scott Andringa is almost certainly not a practicing predatory ephebophile.

Fiscal Meth|1.3.11 @ 3:54PM|#

Yes. And to be clear, there is also no conclusive evidence to confirm or rule out the anonymous allegation that Scott Andriga prefers to let them rot first for quite some time before having his way with the dead animals.

The Mossy Spaniard|1.3.11 @ 4:10PM|#

I feel like that's a pretty measured assessment, unlike the (probably unsubstantiated) claim that Scott Andringa uses the powers of his office to eliminate competing opiate dealers who pose a threat to his own trafficking operation.

perlhaqr|1.3.11 @ 8:30PM|#

I feel it's necessary to point out that I haven't actually seen any hard evidence that Scott Andringa dresses up in a french maid outfit and provides oral sexual favors in his local leper colony.

The Mossy Spaniard|1.3.11 @ 9:08PM|#

Thanks, perlhaqr. We wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong idea, you know.

Metazoan|1.3.11 @ 12:30PM|#

Hey, don't compare him to animals. It really isn't fair to the animals. They didn't do anything wrong- he is a monster.

|1.3.11 @ 7:32PM|#

Don't insult animals by comparing them to Andringa.

|1.3.11 @ 12:11PM|#

I propose a rule that no prosecutor can become a judge until 10 years after leaving office.

I like it!

Kristen|1.3.11 @ 12:51PM|#

I propose that no prosecutor can become a judge until he/she spends 10 years in the public defender's office.

Rather|1.3.11 @ 12:58PM|#

I propose that no prosecutor can become a judge until he/she spends 10 years in prison.

|1.3.11 @ 1:25PM|#

I like this idea best.

sarcasmic|1.3.11 @ 1:57PM|#

+1000

Rather|1.3.11 @ 2:38PM|#

sarcasmic,you popped my 1000 cherry and all I can say is: I like it

Bucky|1.3.11 @ 10:32PM|#

^^^^^^^

Fat Crack Ho|1.3.11 @ 4:14PM|#

I propose that no person can become a judge who has ever served as a prosecutor.

perlhaqr|1.3.11 @ 8:23PM|#

This... is actually pretty reasonable. Conflict of interest, really.

|1.4.11 @ 2:06AM|#

that's just stupid. "conflict of interest"

prosecutors and defense attorneys are both officers of the court. once they are not long prosecutors or defense attorneys, they don't HAVE the same "interest"

one of the best prosecutors i know *is* a former defense attorney. there are also tons of defense attorneys who are former prosecutors and very good at their job.

a judge's interest is DIFFERENT than a defense attorney... a defense attorney's job, as dershowitz so well explained ... is to use the law however he can to get a guy the minimal possible legal consequences. neither a defense attorney nor a prosecutor's interests are in line with a judge's interests.

that's why it would be a conflict to be BOTH AT THE SAME TIME. that's what france essentially does, btw.

but a former prosecutor has no more conflict of interest in being judge than a former defense attorney... or a former interior decorator

|1.3.11 @ 12:23PM|#

Ethics and professionalism of the bar...makes me want to barf. You find people who better understand justice in a real bar.

|1.3.11 @ 12:24PM|#

After reading the average Balko article, I feel like I need to go to a bar, that's for sure.

perlhaqr|1.3.11 @ 8:22PM|#

some guy|1.3.11 @ 2:25PM|#

Quit complaining! That's why we have juries.

The problem is what happens when you replace their booze with a judge's instructions...

Andringa is obviously a villainous douche of the highest order. Still, the reason he was able to succeed in his douchery was: (1) Florida's overbroad distribution law; (2) the jurors' stupidity in believing that he would just get probation; and (3) the judge's cowardice/malevolence in sentencing him to the mandatory minimum. Note also that Radley spends a great deal of e-ink on the prison conditions, which have little to do with Aringa.

|1.3.11 @ 12:41PM|#

Maybe Paey ought to run for judge as well just to out this Andringa scum and make him lose.

some guy|1.3.11 @ 2:27PM|#

That would be great except Paey probably can't run due to being a convicted felon. (Though I'm not really up on my Florida law...)

|1.3.11 @ 2:41PM|#

He's not a convicted felon...he was pardoned.

some guy|1.3.11 @ 4:37PM|#

Yeah, I guess so...

But that's not what Andringa's attack ads will say. "Richard Paey is a morphine addict. He was convicted of drug charges in 1997. Richard Paey doesn't share our values or our morals. ...paid for by the Scott Andriga campaign..."

|1.3.11 @ 12:44PM|#

If being a heartless asshole who puts people who've done nothing wrong in goddam cages isn't enough to reject this fuckwad, this is -

On December 13, Andringa announced his candidacy in the 2012 election for Pinellas County judge. The position currently is held by Andringa's father, who is retiring.

|1.3.11 @ 12:45PM|#

There needs to be a separate Judicial system whose sole purpose is to go after malicious and abusive prosecutors and judges who commit state-sanctioned terror under the guise of the judicial process. What Andringa did to Richard Paey and his family was definitely an act of terror.

Dave|1.3.11 @ 1:23PM|#

Now you're talking. Andringa and other overzealous prosecutors are the real criminals and belong in prison.

sarcasmic|1.3.11 @ 1:58PM|#

We need a system for the repeal of laws that allow this sort of thing to happen.

|1.3.11 @ 12:53PM|#

I'm disappointed this article never mentions Paey's defense lawyer. What kind of defense did they put on?
According to Mr. Balko, the prosecution had no physical evidence and no witness testimony.

Andringa's role aside, Paey really has a jury foreman to thank for his conviction. I hate the public so fucking much.
Yes, of course, prosecutors are over-zealous and don't follow rules like disclosing exculpatory evidence. But we vote them in, we vote for the guys who pass the laws, and we make up the juries.

Booger|1.3.11 @ 1:21PM|#

JCalton....I had similar thoughts. The jury foreman had to also convince the other jurors, but as he must have explained it would just be a probationary sentence. So, he was wrong....but the jury should have still recognized that Paey didn't deserve anything. The defense lawyer must have been completely out of his league.

But, here is the question...who is the judge that handed down the sentence. The judge should have discretion on handing down a lighter sentence, right? Why did he go for the 25 years?

JD|1.3.11 @ 4:11PM|#

25 years was the mandatory minimum sentence for the charge for which Paey was convicted. The judge wouldn't be allowed to hand down a lighter sentence as far as I am aware.

perlhaqr|1.3.11 @ 8:26PM|#

So, everyone always talks about "mandatory minimums", but... what's the enforcement? What happens if the judge says "This is complete bullshit, and I refuse to implement this sentence."? Do they get fired? Do they even get a nastygram? Does anything happen at all?

|1.3.11 @ 2:44PM|#

I'm not terribly down on the defense lawyer. Forcing two hung juries on a "drugs're bad, mmm-kay?" case in Florida? Of course, it's also possible Paey was broke after the first two trials and had to use the public defender.

|1.3.11 @ 12:58PM|#

We had a similar case here, also covered by Balko.
http://reason.com/blog/2010/11.....ce-why-the

What Radley doesn't mention is that this prosecutor's conduct was so egregious that America's Most Wanted did a show on how the convicted was innocent--twice. America's Most Wanted!
http://www.amw.com/features/fe.....fm?id=3446 [Scroll down for video of the show]

As far as I know, the clown prosecutor-turned-Congressman (unlike Andringa) never claimed he'd been featured in a high profile criminal case on America's Most Wanted.

|1.3.11 @ 1:14PM|#

Funny....down here you seem reasonable....while up the thread you seem like such a dick.

Almanian|1.3.11 @ 2:07PM|#

Show us again on the Father Dowling doll where the priest touched you....

Dave|1.3.11 @ 1:28PM|#

Another example of why our drug "war" needs to end.

Also, who cares whether Paey is an addict or not? That's his f'ing business and nobody elses.

It should NOT be a crime to be an addict. It IS a crime for society to persecute people solely for addiction.

|1.4.11 @ 2:11AM|#

agree. the argument that he wasn't an addict was stupid. of course he was. would he suffer severe withdrawal symptoms, was he addicted, etc? of course. BY DESIGN OF HIS THERAPY, which wasn't designed to avoid the addiction, but was designed to be effective at relieving his pain.

which is how it should be, at least for a chronic situation where there wasn't as much concern for the discomfort of tapering off.

it's fucking ridiculous that MD's are scared to prescribe C-II drugs in many jurisdictions because of overzealous prosecutors/DEA etc. who don't recognize the need for effective pain therapy and that people's physiology differs.

this prosecutor sounds like a major asshole.

d|1.3.11 @ 1:37PM|#

Unfortunately, this shit-bag will probably be elected based on the name recognition he gets from the fact that he is filling his dad's shoes as the next judge.

Tolly|1.3.11 @ 2:02PM|#

Great - this asshole is running for office in my backyard. Any suggestions how we might rev up the grassroots support for defeating his bid to sit in daddy's chair? How do you defeat a bid for a judge?

Kristen|1.3.11 @ 2:23PM|#

Plaster this article all over town?

|1.3.11 @ 9:06PM|#

If this is the Municipal Election that is happening on March 8, 2011, then February 7th, 2011 is the filing deadline. That's our only hope. He's currently uncontested.

Almanian|1.3.11 @ 2:02PM|#

Also, god DAMN it....

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLKKKKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

(that was my BALLS screaming that - Happy New Year to you, too, ya bastard!)

Almanian|1.3.11 @ 2:10PM|#

At least he has to live with looking like that picture. Jesus...he is some kinda douched-up, monkey-ass ugly.

This probably all started when he got his ass beat every day on the playground, eh? Ain't that a bitch....

|1.3.11 @ 3:12PM|#

I can't believe jurors believed the jury foreman when he told them Paey would only get probation if they voted guilty. Wow. What a miscarriage of justice. However, remember, the last thing that occurs in courtrooms is justice. It is all about winning and losing. Period. The late great comedian Richard Pryor said it best when he opined, "there is justice in America, just go down to the jailhouse and that's all you will find, Just Us."

|1.3.11 @ 4:17PM|#

If this is not an argument for jury nullification, I don't know what is. Also, it's just another example of the very best of us reaching the top...not. What it is is an illustration of the fact that those who gravitate toward power and authority over others are generally the worst of us.

|1.3.11 @ 5:25PM|#

The KKK likes this.

justarandombro|1.3.11 @ 7:49PM|#

after reading this i really want to beat the shit out of Scott Andringa.

stupid republican|1.3.11 @ 11:41PM|#

I can only hope that adringa burn in hell for his crimes against his fellow man and that the good citizens of Pinella county ,FL, recognize his blatant abuse of judicial law, and reflect that knowledge at the ballot in 2012. That being said, as a former resident of florida, I can rightly say that as a Governor, Crist was a deviant towards all he served but, one Paey. That is the only thing I will ever acknowledge his hand in correcting, though whether this was an act of true altruistic intent or a political play, shall remain in question.

|1.4.11 @ 6:44AM|#

Absolutely shocking and horrifying. And the worst part is he'll probably win and get the bench. I'm also shocked to hear this guy is pretending to be a defense attorney right now. Wonder why he ever left the DA's office in the first place, because "judge" is the highest position in the DA's office... you don't leave if you want to become a judge. I seriously doubt this guy has been a good defense attorney, because anyone who becomes a prosecutor for any length of time (long enough to become a sociopath and see the job as simply trying to destroy the lives of the accused), they cannot just switch over and defend people against their prosecutor buddies. I bet this guy is playing double agent, defending people and pleading them out to maximum sentences and telling the DA's office all sorts of privileged information about his clients. "For the children" of course. This guy should be locked up for the rest of his life for what he did to Paey, and I don't care whether pay forged the Rx or not (I don't think he did, the doctor sent him the scripts and was then threatened by the prosecutors and told to either say Paey forged them or he would lose his medical license and go to prison himself).

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