The man trying to free heroin addicts from the shackles of addiction isn?t the saint he claims to be ? just a greedy pizza shop manager, a county attorney told jurors in federal court Monday.
Attorney Paul Mayhew defended Baltimore County Council members from claims they passed a discriminatory zoning law to keep a methadone clinic out of a Pikesville neighborhood. Jurors heard the attorney?s closing remarks Monday before moving into deliberations.
“What he saw was an easier way to make money than selling pizza,” Mayhew said. “He basically portrayed himself as Mother Teresa, and we don?t believe the evidence really bore that out.”
The jury must decide whether an emergency county bill passed just before A Helping Hand ? which treats heroin addicts using a synthetic narcotic ? opened on Slade Avenue in 2002 was based on discriminatory perceptions of recovering drug addicts.
Clinic attorney Steve Barber argued the law violates the Americans with Disabilities Act and has been enforced only against his client. The verdict will determine if the clinic, which currently serves 350 addicts, can stay open.
During testimony, Barber played a tape and showed jurors a memo between Council Member Kevin Kamenetz and council legislative secretary Thomas Peddicord, which he says indicates the bill specifically targeted Helping Hand and the two brainstormed “pretenses” to make it appear legitimate.
Barber showed jurors a neighborhood pamphlet reading “What would you do to keep heroin addicts from your neighborhood?”, which had been distributed before Kamenetz, D-District 2, introduced the bill.
“We don?t want to see them, we don?t want to interact with them,” Barber said. “The message is these people are socially undesirable and this stigma was communicated in numerous ways.”
A verdict could come as soon as today.
