State: Noelle Bush gets 10 days in jail

On a day when her uncle, the president, flew to Florida to help re-elect her father, the governor, Noelle Bush was handcuffed and sentenced to 10 days in jail Thursday after crack cocaine was found in her shoe at a drug treatment center.

Ms. Bush, the 25-year-old daughter of Gov. Jeb Bush , apologized to Circuit Judge Reginald Whitehead and promised to do better in the future at the Center for Drug Free Living in Orlando. She has been living at the treatment center since she was arrested in January for trying to use a phony prescription for Xanax, an antianxiety drug.

The governor was not in court with her. Aides said he considered it but was concerned that his presence might be viewed as an attempt to influence the judge.

Instead, Ms. Bush was accompanied by her aunt, Dorothy "Doro" Koch, who lives outside Washington, D.C., Cory Tilley, a former press secretary for the governor, and her attorneys.

Mrs. Koch, the only sister of the president and governor, hugged her niece and wiped away tears as deputies handcuffed Ms. Bush and led her out of the courtroom.

Shortly after the sentencing, the governor spoke to the editorial board of the St. Petersburg Times for a previously scheduled interview.

"It's been a rough day," Bush said.

In a written statement released by his office, Bush said: "Words cannot express the sadness that Columba and I feel about what has happened with our daughter Noelle today. Nonetheless, as governor, but most importantly as her father, I know she must face the consequences of her actions."

Bush said every parent of a child with an addiction understands the long road they must travel to recovery.

"This is a very difficult time for all of us who love her, and Columba and I pray every day our beautiful daughter will once again know a life free from the horrors of substance abuse," Bush added. He also thanked people from across the state and nation who have offered thoughts and prayers.

Tilley said Noelle was not surprised by the sentence. "Her attorney had told her she could expect to get seven to 10 days in jail," Tilley said.

This was the second time Whitehead has sent Ms. Bush to jail for violating terms of her treatment. She spent three days in jail in July after she was found with a bag of prescription drugs taken from a medicine cabinet in a nurse's office.

The governor wrestled with whether he should be in court with his daughter.

"It's a fine line," Tilley said. "Some people would have accused him of appearing to intimidate the judge or for political reasons. And she's not a juvenile, she's 25 years old and has to face adult consequences."

Tilley said he volunteered to accompany Ms. Bush because he has known the Bush family almost 10 years and wanted to help them deal with the mass of reporters who jammed the courtroom. Reporters from People magazine and CNN joined a couple of dozen other reporters for the five-minute hearing in a courtroom where reporters rarely appear.

Earlier this week, Whitehead had rejected a request from Bush's attorneys that the press and public be banned from her drug court proceedings.

"She knows I love her," Bush said later when reporters asked about his absence from the courtroom. "It would have just caused more problems if I showed up."

After campaigning in St. Petersburg, the governor joined his brother, President George W. Bush, at an elementary school in New Smyrna Beach for an education roundtable and a Victory 2002 fundraiser in Daytona Beach.

The judge gave no specific reason for the sentence but told Ms. Bush he was aware of allegations that she was found with crack cocaine in her shoe at the treatment center. He also warned her that she could have faced two felony drug charges if he had not decided to give her another chance to remain in the drug treatment program.

Another judge had earlier ruled that employees of the treatment center did not have to answer police questions about the crack allegedly found in her shoe. Circuit Judge Belvin Perry ruled that a federal law protecting a drug treatment patient's privacy outweighs the interest of police. Florida's drug court program would be destroyed if patients could be taken by police from treatment centers and placed in criminal courts for drug possession, he wrote.

In Florida drug courts, judges frequently use short jail sentences to punish those who violate the rules of treatment programs. Once a defendant successfully graduates from drug court, criminal charges are usually dropped.

Ms. Bush's lawyer, former statewide prosecutor Peter Antonacci, stood beside her in court and urged the judge to be lenient, noting that she has passed frequent drug tests despite violating rules.

"I want you to have some time to think and reflect on this," Whitehead told her. "You should be disappointed that you let yourself down. You have to learn from your mistake. This is a great opportunity for yourself to see if you can do well."

Ms. Bush will be held in protective custody away from other inmates. The jail keeps all high-profile inmates isolated from the general population. They are allowed to leave their cells only to shower and exercise. They remain under 24-hour surveillance by jail employees.

After the jail sentence, she will return to the treatment center and continue in the court-supervised drug treatment program.

-- Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk