Survivor of ‘Amazing Race’ Coke Poisoning Pleads Guilty
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Michele Sibiloni/AFP/Getty Images
The assistant to an American reality TV producer who died after taking contaminated cocaine in Uganda pleaded guilty to illicit drug use in a Kampala courtroom and was freed to return to South Africa after paying a fine.
Katheryne Fuller, 29, sat in a wheelchair wearing a hospital gown Thursday, still paralyzed on her right side as her lawyer asked the judge for leniency. Press cameras outside the courthouse captured starkly different pictures of Fuller from those posted on her Facebook page in which she poses glamorously.
On Feb. 17, staff at the luxury Serena Hotel in Kampala found Fuller and her boss, 39-year-old freelance producer Jeff Rice, motionless on a balcony. Both were rushed to a hospital where Rice was declared dead.
Fuller’s attorney, Paul Rutisya, said her sentence is not uncommon for the crime. She was given the choice of either six months in prison or a $420 fine.
“This should be looked at as a second chance being given to the accused who is alive by God’s chance,” Judge Sylvia Nabaggala said according to Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper.
Fuller’s relatives told ABC News after slowly regaining consciousness, she struggled to speak again. When she was well enough to talk to police, they say she admitted the drug use, dispelling speculation by some friends that she and Rice were poisoned because of work on an investigative documentary.
Tests showed both had cocaine in their systems, and Ugandan police said they were sickened by a “lethal additive” in the drug. Fuller told police they bought the drugs from a taxi driver who was later arrested. Moses Kalanzi, 23, pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and drug distribution charges. Police say he will remain in prison until at least his next court hearing on March 15.
Rice’s family is planning to hold a memorial service for him next week in Durban, South Africa where he lived with his wife, Sally Blackman, and two children, ages 7 and 2.
Rice was a veteran producer who worked on the latest season of the hit reality-TV series “The Amazing Race” and the Emmy-nominated Animal Planet series “Whale Wars.” Shortly after his death, his wife posted this message on her Facebook page: “To my dear husband Jeff – tragically you left this world and only time will heal the void that you leave behind. Rest in peace my darling.”
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One stupid decision can screws up so many lives. Tragic.
Posted by: Brian Levine | March 2, 2012, 1:19 pm 1:19 pm
Well it seems she gets a reward for her actions. I feel not sorry one bit for her, she is doing coke bought from a cabbie in Uganda…. Maybe now she will give up the illegal drugs.
Posted by: Don Semora | March 2, 2012, 1:29 pm 1:29 pm
Don’t do drugs.
Posted by: Benjamin | March 2, 2012, 1:37 pm 1:37 pm
Short and to the point, Benjamin. Good advice.
Posted by: carole | March 2, 2012, 1:42 pm 1:42 pm
… you might end up in a roadside ditch
Posted by: NR | March 2, 2012, 2:07 pm 2:07 pm
Let me see if I have this right: She is being fined 420 for drug use?
Ah, Uganda. Too busy debating the death penalty for gays to stay current on the pop culture references of countries living 5000 years in the future. You stay classy Uganda … and in the Bronze Age!
Posted by: nocturneone | March 2, 2012, 2:08 pm 2:08 pm
If they’d just legalize, produce, tax, and regulate the distribution and use of recreational drugs such as marijuana and cocaine, incidents like this wouldn’t be happening. With the “War on Drugs” being such a dismal and utter failure for so many years, you’d think governments would have learned by now. Twentieth Century Prohibition, Twenty-First War on Drugs. Same problem, same solution.
Posted by: dosguy | March 2, 2012, 2:47 pm 2:47 pm
So funny how the media tried to cover this up as poisoning.
Its well known that Hollywood has a culture of drug abuse, most everyone in the industry is chronic abuser, they just try to hide it.
Posted by: Conan | March 2, 2012, 3:14 pm 3:14 pm
That was some good stuff! Dude! My nose is burning…oh ah ah ah ahhhhh… This will be a great episode on 1,000 ways to die…. Two things you don’t buy in Africa .. 1- Drugs (poison) and 2- Prostitutes (HIV)
How many times do you have to tell people… you are not invincible. These people are losers in life.
Posted by: Army_Vet | March 2, 2012, 3:53 pm 3:53 pm
Cocaine is junk! It’s highly processed! Marijuana is still the best!
Posted by: Kara Sontibaybay | March 2, 2012, 5:13 pm 5:13 pm
Really ?? Bought coke from a taxi driver in Uganda ? A lesson learned ! Don’t score your coke from a Taxi Driver in Uganda – idiots !! Amazing Race to a bad conclusion. Was she and Rice that desperate to score ?!! Anyone want to nominate Rice for a Darwin Award ?
Posted by: Thomas B | March 2, 2012, 6:24 pm 6:24 pm
Legalize, produce, tax, and regulate? Oh, you mean like alcohol. Yeah, that would save millions of lives. Because nobody ever dies from anything alcohol-related. You can write up all the regulations you want; stupid people will still be stupid.
Posted by: Dave | March 2, 2012, 6:47 pm 6:47 pm
…….A little refer madness would have prevented this tragedy. Yet people in power will not be learned.
Posted by: RP---STAR | March 2, 2012, 7:43 pm 7:43 pm
@nocturneone: No, she is actually being fined 1,000,000 Ugandan shillings for drug use. It’s not the judge’s fault that the exchange rate works so favorably for an American. But way to stay arrogant in judging a culture that does not “keep up on [American] pop culture”, as if the U.S. is all that matters in the world.
Posted by: GOZAR | March 2, 2012, 7:54 pm 7:54 pm
Guy had a pretty understanding wife too. “To my dear husband Jeff – tragically you left this world and only time will heal the void that you leave behind. Rest in peace my darling.”
My spouse wouldn’t get that kind of reaction from me.
Posted by: Amazed | March 2, 2012, 8:18 pm 8:18 pm
Katheryne Fuller, 29, sat in a wheelchair wearing a hospital gown Thursday, still paralyzed on her right side as her lawyer asked the judge for leniency
like she hasnt had enough tragedy in her life she has to pay a fine. what if she never gets over this paralyasis
legalize drugs the price will go down so low the wont even bother to bring it to america
Posted by: TED409 | March 2, 2012, 8:22 pm 8:22 pm
“Cocaine is a hell of a drug” (someone had to quote it!)
Posted by: ladini | March 4, 2012, 11:28 am 11:28 am
You’ve got to love the “Legalize drugs” angle, as if that is the problem. If you feel you need drugs, you’ll always have a problem until you address it. Nirvana doesn’t exist, but the height of humanity hardly means being detached from reality through drug use.
Posted by: bmeek | March 6, 2012, 1:42 pm 1:42 pm
*yawn*
Posted by: me | March 8, 2012, 9:24 am 9:24 am