Posted on 10/04/2003 1:42:29 AM PDT by Walkin Man
Saturday, October 4
Limbaugh won't be prosecuted, attorneys wager
By John Pacenti, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Saturday, October 4, 2003
WEST PALM BEACH -- Rush Limbaugh's alleged addiction to painkillers may be documented in e-mails.
His reported drug deals may have been taped by his former housekeeper.
And the talkative maid and her handyman husband could even be willing to testify against the conservative talk-show host. They sure were willing to spill everything to a supermarket tabloid.
But the chance of criminal charges ever being filed against Limbaugh is next to nil, say criminal defense attorneys who have handled numerous drug cases.
And some local lawyers say they are hearing from sources within State Attorney Barry Krischer's office that Limbaugh -- who lives in a $24 million mansion on Palm Beach -- will indeed not be charged.
Sources also said Limbaugh won't even be questioned by law enforcement officials, unless the commentator chooses to cooperate on his own.
Roy Black is the Miami powerhouse attorney Limbaugh has reportedly hired to represent him. But Black, who has represented such celebrities as Marv Albert and William Kennedy Smith, won't return calls to confirm he has been retained. And Limbaugh said on his radio show Friday he wasn't at liberty to address the allegations.
James Martz, the prosecutor who heads up a task force on money-laundering, said he is more interested in finding the heads of such distribution cells as opposed to prosecuting low-level drug users -- whether they are celebrities or not.
Plus, to prosecute drug abusers, authorities need to catch them in possession of the illegal substance, he said. "Shy of that, we have very little leverage in the state system," Martz said.
What it all comes down to, attorneys say, is that the court of public opinion is a far cry from the court of law.
"I think that the state better have a heck of a lot more than what I'm seeing, hearing and reading right now," attorney Michael Salnick said. "First of all you have a major credibility issue with these witnesses. The credibility issue starts with the fact they sold their story to The National Enquirer."
The former maid, Wilma Cline, and her husband, David Cline, told The Enquirer for its latest edition that Limbaugh bulldogged them into supplying him with thousands of painkillers between 1998 and 2002. They said Limbaugh took hydrocodone, Lorcet and OxyContin.
The story came out on the heels of Limbaugh resigning from his job as an ESPN sports analyst after he said Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated because the media wanted a black quarterback to succeed.
Maid said she taped transactions
It is unknown if the timing was coincidental, but The Enquirer's story is full of juicy details. According to the piece, it all started when Limbaugh asked for some extra pain pills from David Cline's legitimate prescription for a back injury.
Soon, Limbaugh demanded that they continue to supply him with pills when the prescription ran out. That's when Wilma Cline started keeping a log of her deliveries and preserved desperate e-mails from Limbaugh in which he referred to pills as "small blue babies."
Wilma Cline said she would meet Limbaugh in parking lots, passing a cigar box filled with pills through his Mercedes' window.
During her two last drug deliveries, Wilma Cline told The Enquirer, she secretly audiotaped the transactions.
Late last year, the Clines went to prosectors, who gave them immunity. Sources say the couple helped prosecutors in their investigation into tracking some 450,000 pills of hydrocodone back to the source.
Authorities believe some of Limbaugh's supply was dispensed from a small suburban Lake Worth pharmacy, World Health Association. The couple that ran the operation, Gloria and Louis Beshara, were arrested in May, seven months after the Clines came forward. The Besharas currently face trafficking charges.
Also, what could undermine the Clines' credibility is that David Cline has a criminal history.
He was arrested in 1982 in Collier County for cocaine trafficking, serving five years in prison. In 2000, he was arrested on charges of identity theft -- using the name George Earl Taylor -- of possessing a fake driver license and fake vehicle registration, as well as possession of marijuana and resisting arrest. He served 18 months probation.
It is unknown if the couple received full immunity from prosecutors for information they gave about how they provided pills for Limbaugh.
If Wilma Cline did tape Limbaugh without his knowledge, that is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison, attorneys say.
Plus, Martz said such tapings can't even be heard by prosecutors. As for e-mail evidence, Martz said any such evidence is problematic because there is trouble verifying who sent the e-mail.
So where does this leave Limbaugh's criminal liability?
"I think it's legal suicide to go after a guy like Limbaugh with evidence as flimsy as this," Salnick said.
Two former prosecutors, now in private practice, agree.
Robert Gershman said most of the time, users are prosecuted only for possession. He said the Clines probably wouldn't have even gotten in the door of the state attorney's office if they weren't outing a celebrity.
Marc Shiner said the celebrity issue taints the case. "Why would drug dealers turn in their client unless they are trying to save their own neck -- or trying to make a couple hundred thousand dollars peddling their story to the tabloids?" he asked.
"If I was Roy Black, I'd be sitting on the beach right now sipping a pina colada or watching a Marlins game and not worrying too much about Rush Limbaugh's criminal liability right now."
The moment the Enquirer published what the Cline woman said, her statements became worthless to law enforcement. The Enquirer waited long enough to be sure a case against Rush wasn't going anywhere so they couldn't be accused of interfering with an investigation then threw this stink bomb on their front pages.
They sexed it all up with huge amounts of pills, and talk of PROOF! in the form of audiotape and e-mails. E-mail is worthless as evidence and where are the audiotapes?? Is the Enquirer still "thinking about" releasing them to the public?
I agree 100%. The National Enquirer no doubt had mega-sales this week. I'm certain, too, that they've insulated themselves enough over this so that the chances of a successful libel suit are small. No doubt they've "sexed it up" but I agree with BlueNGold that the basic facts are probably more or less correct. There's just enough truth to them that they can wriggle through the big hole of US libel and defamation laws.
They didn't, and don't have to, "vet" that the claims are true.
I haven't read the story, but I'm sure it reads: "the maid says... the maid claims..." etc.
I think his family was/is involved in the law profession. But, like the saying goes, all Congress people are dirtbags...except our Congress person.
Rush has had zero tolerance for drug abusers in the past and has excoriated trial lawyers as well.
Now he retains them to defend himself against drug charges!
You don't see the irony in that, not to mention the hypocrisy?
There's nothing ironic or hypocritical about it. He didn't ask for these allegations to be made. And he has never said that lawyers are never needed.
A legal tap, focused on tracking the product from distributor to customer, cannot normally be used to prosecute the customer unless the customer was named in the warrant used to obtain the tap. So it is entirely plausible that Rush was indeed caught on tape, legally done, but in a manner that did not expose him to prosecution even though he may have been incriminated.
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