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Man Faces Post-Prison Challenges

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By GEOFF FOX

gfox@tampatrib.com

Published: November 2, 2008

HUDSON - After he was released from prison and pardoned for drug trafficking last year, Richard Paey looked forward to many freedoms.

After serving more than three years of a 25-year sentence, the wheelchair-bound chronic pain sufferer could eat whenever he wanted, sleep past 4:45 a.m. and enjoy a face-to-face conversation with someone besides a convicted murderer or prison guard.

But rejoining civilian life has been harder than anticipated for Paey and his family, which includes three teenagers. His son was recently diagnosed with a form of autism. One daughter is learning to drive and another daughter just started college.

A lifelong Republican, Paey, 50, also learned recently that not all of his rights were automatically restored with the pardon handed down last September by Gov. Charlie Crist and the state Board of Executive Clemency.

"When I was convicted in 2004 I was removed from the voter roll," Paey said. "When I went to vote early it was too late to register to vote in the presidential election. The elections worker kept saying I was a convicted felon.

"As of now, I can't vote. I'm very disappointed."

He was removed from voter rolls before he was pardoned, according to the state Division of Elections. Under state law, it was his responsibility to re-register to vote after his release.

Brian Corley, Pasco County's supervisor of elections, said records indicate Paey could have voted in this year's elections had he re-registered to vote by an Oct. 6 deadline.

"I see a note here that his rights were restored, but he came in" a day late to re-register, Corley said. "He still has to submit a new application. Once he does that, we'll get him back in the system."

The system.

Don't get Paey started.

A law school graduate, his life was rolling along smoothly until he was involved in a serious 1985 traffic accident that resulted in a botched back surgery, leaving him in near-constant agony. He later developed multiple sclerosis.

In 1997, he was arrested by Pasco County Sheriff's deputies after a three-month investigation of unusual prescription fulfillment. At a 2004 trial, his attorney argued that Paey obtained the painkiller Percocet legally and the pills were used solely by him.

No evidence was ever produced that he distributed the drugs, but a jury nevertheless convicted him on seven counts of drug trafficking. The volume of pills involved triggered a mandatory sentence of 25 years for drug trafficking.

In prison, his pain was treated with a morphine pump that delivered in just two days more medication than Paey was incarcerated for obtaining.

A Turbulent Transition

The transition from closely watched prisoner to free family man has been turbulent.

"It's been a year of adjustments, different transitions, just getting back in synch with family life after prison," he said. "I was more or less a stranger. My kids said, 'Dad's changed.'"

Linda Paey also noticed the changes.

"It took much longer than I thought" it would for him to adapt, she said. "When I was visiting him in prison he seemed like the same man, but he couldn't handle the freedom, the distractions with the kids and everything. Everything was not on a schedule."

Not that the pardon wasn't an unexpected blessing.

He was able to attend daughter Catherine's graduation from Hudson High School; now 18, she is a freshman at The University of South Florida. And he could see his beloved mother, Helen, outside of a prison.

There were pressures, though, some typical, some not.

When her father was released, Elizabeth Paey, now 17, was learning to drive, a nerve-wracking experience for almost any parent.

With son Benjamin, 15, issues are more complex.

Linda Paey said her son always has been socially awkward and physically clumsy. Sometimes, he was antagonized by classmates. Benjamin was recently diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, and the family doesn't know what his future will hold.

"We're probably going to have to set up a trust for him," Linda Paey said.

Rejoining The Fight

Besides family issues, there have been money problems. And, the Paeys have gotten notices from their homeowners' association because their grass is too long.

Immediately after his release, Paey lobbied on behalf of other pain sufferers through organizations like the Pain Relief Network, November Coalition and Families Against Mandatory Minimums. But juggling independence and an urge to fight for others' rights soon became too much.

With more than a year of freedom under his belt, Paey now says he is almost ready to start working with the groups again.

In some ways, unfortunately, his own fight isn't over.

"Linda went to the pharmacy the other day, and the pharmacy refused to fill my prescription for oxycodone," he said. "The pharmacist said that even if he called the doctor and the doctor verified the prescription, he still wouldn't fill it.

"I'm in a contract with the doctor to go to that pharmacy. We called the state pharmacy board and their advice was to wait until a different pharmacist was on duty."

Paey sighed.

His hands were outstretched, palms toward the ceiling.

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 779-4613.

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