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Monday, November 12, 2007

Ind. Courts - More on: Evansville attorney cleared in meth case

Updating this ILB entry from Sat., Nov. 10th, Kate Braser of the Evansville Courier & Press reports today under the headline "Happe resumes treatment Hopes to restart law practice." Some quotes:

Speaking Sunday, Happe said, despite his exoneration by the jury, he believes his reputation has yet to make a complete recovery.

"I wouldn't say I've been publicly exonerated yet," he said. "I was villainized by the press. By the court, I was exonerated, but I still need to publicly be put in a better light."

During the trial, Brinson said police targeted Happe leading up to his March arrest because he was a defense attorney and a drug user. He said police entrapped Happe by using an informant to lead him into helping manufacture meth at his law office/apartment.

"Because I was a criminal defense attorney, the police had it out for me," Happe said Sunday. "But the jurors saw the truth. It was entrapment."

Today, Happe will resume his physical recovery when he returns to an addiction treatment center in the Chicago area, where he has been for about eight months.

Happe said the center discharged him in July, but he has continued treatment.

The center specializes in treating the addictions of doctors, lawyers and pharmacists, Happe said, explaining staff there will help him get his license to practice law, which was suspended after his arrest in March.

"I need to go back and get some things right," he said. "The anxiety of this was overwhelming. Now, I feel like I can go out in public again. It's a sense of freedom I haven't had in a long time. When I was home for visits before, I would lay low, but now I feel free to roam about the city, so to speak."

The bumpy road Happe has been down began at a party years ago, where he said he first tried methamphetamine.

Happe describes his first high on the drug as "euphoric."

"Meth is something you try one time, and your first experience is so overwhelming and feels so good that you are going to become addicted," he said.

Happe was hooked for almost the next two years.

"Coming down, even from my first high, was atrocious," he said.

He said his back ached, he couldn't sleep, felt irritable and was in "agonizing pain."

"It was torture," he said.

Happe said a 2006 conviction on a misdemeanor charge of visiting a common nuisance led to his ongoing recovery effort. In that case, he pleaded guilty after being accused of leaving a place where meth was manufactured.

Happe believes if his addiction had gone unchecked for another 30 to 60 days, he would have died.

"Most people don't make it out of a meth addiction," he said. "They die or go to jail. If you don't go to a recovery center, you don't get better."

Happe said his cravings are completely gone.

"This is a lifelong process," he said of his recovery.

Happe says his plans are to resume his career in criminal defense when he returns to Evansville in several months.

"I'll be able to identify with my clients much more now," he said. "I'll understand where they are coming from because I went through the whole process. A client who comes to me will get someone with a unique perspective."

Even so, Happe concedes his relationship with some in the local law enforcement and legal community is now strained.

"I think this has been a learning experience for everyone," he said. "I think the Police Department and prosecutors have learned that you can't plant evidence on someone, and I hope the community has learned that I am not a villain. I am an addict in recovery."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 12, 2007 09:14 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts