NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors have decided not to pursue a criminal case into how Heath Ledger obtained the powerful painkillers that contributed to his overdose death this year, a law enforcement official said Wednesday.
Prosecutors in the U.S. 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 the prosecutors have bowed out "because they don’t believe there’s a viable target," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because no charges have been filed.
The decision comes after recent reports that actress Mary-Kate Olsen was demanding immunity before answering questions about the startling death of her close friend and his drug use. Authorities say she was the first person called by a masseuse who found the 28-year-old Dark Knight actor’s lifeless body in his Manhattan apartment.
The DEA had obtained a subpoena that could have forced Olsen if she continued to hold out. But the subpoena, issued in April, is no longer valid because it was contingent upon prosecutors pursuing the case, the official said Wednesday. The official added that the case could still be revived if evidence of a crime emerges.
There was no immediate response to a message left with spokeswomen for the U.S. attorney’s office and Olsen’s lawyer, Michael C. Miller.
DEA investigators suspect the painkillers found in Ledger’s system, oxycodone and hydrocodone, were obtained with phony prescriptions or other illegal means. Oxycodone is sold as OxyContin and hydrocodone as Vicodin.
Miller insisted this week that Olsen, a former child star on the sitcom Full House, had already told the government she "does not know the source of the drugs Mr. Ledger consumed."
Other potential witnesses apparently answered questions voluntarily, including doctors and Ledger’s ex-girlfriend Michelle Williams.
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 wouldn’t say what concentrations of each drug were found but made clear he was killed by the combination — not an excess of any one drug in particular.
