Prosecutors drop Ledger drugs case

6:41pm Thursday 7th August 2008

US government prosecutors have decided not to pursue a possible criminal case into how Batman star Heath Ledger obtained the powerful painkillers that contributed to his fatal overdose, a law enforcement official said.

Prosecutors in the US Attorney's office in Manhattan had been overseeing a Drug Enforcement Administration probe into whether the painkillers found in Ledger's system were obtained illegally.

But they were bowing out "because they don't believe there's a viable target", said the official, who spoke anonymously because no charges had been filed.

The decision follows recent reports that actress Mary-Kate Olsen was demanding immunity before answering questions about the death of her close friend.

Authorities say she was the first person called by a masseuse who found the 28-year-old Dark Knight actor's body in his Manhattan apartment on January 22.

The DEA had obtained a subpoena that could have forced Olsen if she continued to hold out. But the subpoena, issued in April, was no longer valid because it depended upon prosecutors pursuing the case, the official said. The official added that the case could still be revived if evidence of a crime emerged.

DEA investigators suspect the painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone found in Ledger's system were obtained with false prescriptions or other illegal means. Oxycodone is sold as OxyContin; and hydrocodone as Vicodin.

Earlier this week, Olsen's lawyer Michael Miller insisted the Full House actress had already told the government she "does not know the source of the drugs Mr Ledger consumed".

Other drugs taken by Ledger, including anti-anxiety medication and sleeping pills, were prescribed legally by doctors in California and Texas.

The medical examiner's office would not say what concentrations of each drug was found, but made clear he was killed by the combination - not an excess of any one drug in particular.

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