Posted on 11/08/2005 6:47:36 PM PST by rface
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Prosecutors argued in court Tuesday that they should be allowed to speak with Rush Limbaugh's doctors as part the investigation into whether the conservative talk show commentator illegally purchased painkillers.
Meanwhile, Limbaugh's attorneys wanted the judge to hold prosecutors in contempt for allegedly giving information to the news media, the Palm Beach Post reported.
Limbaugh's attorney, Roy Black, argued that confidentiality between a doctor and patient is a privilege that even criminal investigators cannot penetrate.
"They cannot force Mr. Limbaugh to supply their evidence for them," Black said.
Assistant State Attorney James Martz said he needs to put basic questions to Limbaugh's doctors to investigate if there was a crime.
"I have no idea if Mr. Limbaugh has completed the elements of any offense yet . . . unless we can ask several pertinent questions," Martz told Circuit Judge David Crow.
Crow reserved ruling on Martz's request and said a written order would be issued later.
Prosecutors seized the records after learning that Limbaugh received about 2,000 painkillers, prescribed by four doctors in six months, at a pharmacy near his Palm Beach mansion. They contend that Limbaugh engaged in "doctor shopping," or illegally deceived multiple doctors to receive overlapping prescriptions.
Limbaugh has not been charged and maintains he's innocent. He has acknowledged he became addicted to pain medication, blaming it on severe back pain, and took a five-week leave from his radio show to enter a rehabilitation program in 2003.
But it's a wonderful precedent that he is setting for "the rest of us"..because he CAN!
Thank God for Rush!
He's one of the good guys!
Megadittoes to that!
Then the couple sold the story to the National Enquirer.
Also, from what I remember, the prosecutor's wife is friends with Err America's Randi Rhodes. Rhodes was pushing for
the investigation when she was just a local radio screamer down in Palm Beach, or there abouts.
This is nothing more than the continued efforts by Clinton-type Democrats to silence their perceived enemies. Free Republic even got a taste of it.
They are after Rush for his influence and the same is true of DeLay, Frist, Cheney and Bush. they are after them all.
The Dems have nothing to offer so they have to paint the opposition as demonic and corrupt.
No, actually the geniuses in Tallahassee wrote the law in such a logical fashion that if Limbaugh had forged a doctors name and received the prescriptions fraudulently it would be a misdemeanor, but if he got legitimate prescriptions from more than one doctor, he would be guilty of a felony.
These boys are real smart.
It's been a couple of years, though, and they don't have anything. It's just another politically motivated prosecution by the Dems. This time it's also intended to punish Limbaugh for exercising his freedom of speech.
What's amazing to me is that the judge agrees. At this point, I'd be telling the prosecutor that I'd given him enough rope already, and he'd better do something with it.
The contempt on the part of the prosecutors is apparent.
Now investigate Assistant State Attorney James Martz. What wrongdoing on his part, whether legal, ethical or professional, might be discovered if his actions, during every minute of every hour of every day in this whole process, are carefully and vigorously scrutinized?
I'm sure that they've gone to the doctor and have some kinda of "thing" that would be interesting to find out and released to the public... since we have a "right to know"...
In fact I'm sure that the prosecuter and judges have lots of little things in their past that need to be released.... since they are public officials and it's our "right to know".....
this is gonna be too easy.
I know that the team of Roy Black and Rush has more brain power than the whole Florida "justice department"....
If any "prosecutors" from Fla happen to be lurking here:
Give it up. Save yourselves before it's too late. Go get another job while you can..for if you lunitics push this any further, you are all likely to be sorry. Just take note: the only attorney that Rush has now is Roy Black....there are a lot of others out there and Rush can afford them all.
Hmmmmm... So the prosecutor could be made a fool by passing a law to make it a misdemeanor, like the forgery statute?
this is not and investigation, this is a "criminal audit"
They IGNORE the doctor's 5th amendment rights.
If I was the doctor's lawyer NO WAY would I let my client speak to that unethical prosecutor. (I would want to see the end of the Bar investigation first)
This prosecutor is a perjury trap in the first degree.
Imagine if it were the average person in Limbaugh's shoes
They wouldn't go after the average person - it's because who he is - a conservative that knows what the liberals are going to do before they do it - he exposes them big time and I love it.
Thank you, Rush!!
we started with the "probable cause" standard
we moved to the "reasonable suspicion" standard
and now thanks to the unethical state attorneys in palm beach we have the "wishful thinking" standard.
Why don't we check your bank records, Mr. Martz, just to see if you've paid your taxes, eh ?
I can't imagine that is legal. Why doesn't he sue them personally?
And reporters want one too. It seems the more people covered, the weaker the protections are.
If we can just talk to the doctors, I think we can beat the information we need out of them.
When is it up to the accused to supply the prosecutor with what he thinks he needs to make a case???????????????
HOw long is this thing going to linger. It has been going for more than 2 years now. Has every other crime in that area been taken care of that they have nothing else to do but obsess with Rush?
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