Limbaugh won't be prosecuted, attorneys wager

PalmBeachPost.com ^ | Saturday, October 4, 2003 | John Pacenti

[fml]

A little off topic, but doesn't Rush joke the he doesn't actually drive and is driven around? So wouldn't there be a driver to account for these buys.

[Peach]

So you're a regular believer in the National Enquirer and all the crap contained therein, I guess.

Careful, your anti-Americanism is showing. In America we consider individuals innocent until proven guilty.

Rush hasn't even been arrested yet.

[dr_who_2]

What's the PB prosecutor's political affiliation?

[steve50]

Sorry, I didn't save the link. I'm sure every word the man said about the WOD will be out before it's over. I suspect the cases of imprisonment and property forfeiture for equal or lessor offenses will be aired out as well.

[jmstein7]

Ah, so being on the cover of a tabloid paper and a tabloid in connection with flimsy charges is de facto proof of guilt? Gee, I'd better call my crim law professor and let her know.

/sarcasm

Anyone who has already tried, convicted, and sentenced Rush based on such weak, inadmissible, unverifiable, unauthenticated evidence is a real fool.

I haven't seen an iota of proof that this maid didn't make this whole thing up just to make a few HUNDRED GRAND.

I hope Rush sues her, the Enquirer, and the Daily News for libel per se. Since actual malice can be inferred from the wording of the stories, he would probably win (and the defendants could not prove substantial truth because their evidence is inadmissible).

Wilma Cline age 42= William Clinton x42

[Trust but Verify]

To be fair, I think the 'trial lawyers' Rush has condemned are not criminal defense attorneys but the John Edwards type whose product liability lawsuits are bringing commerce in this country no end of grief. I wholeheartedly agree with him.

[jmstein7]

Plus... if she worked for him IN HIS HOUSE, why not just give him the pills AT HOME??? Why the whole elaborate nonsense?

The Enquirer and Al Franken paid her the big bucks to make this up.

[anniegetyourgun]

From Smoking Gun:

OCTOBER 3--Meet Louis Beshara and his wife, Gloria Rodriguez. The Florida couple are at the heart of the drug scandal now enveloping radio superstar Rush Limbaugh. Investigators allege that the duo illegally sold hundreds of thousands of prescription painkillers from a Palm Beach-area pharmacy they owned. According to a Palm Beach County Sheriff's search warrant affidavit, Beshara provided Hydrocodone, the powerful and addictive painkiller, to middlemen drug dealers like Joseph Coppola who then resold the pills to users. It has been reported that Limbaugh scored some of the Beshara pills via Wilma Cline, a former maid at the radio star's West Palm Beach mansion. Beshara and Rodriguez, who each face two felony drug trafficking charges, are free on bail, though Beshara is under house arrest. (8 pages)

[jmstein7]

". . .I am sick of pompous asses like Rush who lord their wealth and privilege over everyone and get to play with a different set of rules."

Class warfare, huh? You must be a DU lurker who's not too bright. First, you posted an exculpatory story, but you turn around and claim that it's damning.

So, who do you like? Clark, Dean? They'll redistribute that *earned* wealth (Rush came from *NOTHING*) that you hate so much. . . probably to slimey felons like the Clines. Then you'll just be as happy as a clam in the "Chappaqui-dick" water.

[yukong]

No, that is not the case. I am a former prosecutor and have handled hundreds, if not thousands of drug cases. You don't prosecute people for buying drugs, unless you catch them with the drugs. You can charge them with possession, but you have to catch them possessing them. I would never charge anyone with possession, based only on the testimony of someone that said, "I sold him drugs", without catching that someone with the drugs. The only other possible charge would be "conspiracy to possess drugs", but most conspiracy charges cannot rest solely on the testimony of a co-conspirator (the housekeeper) without some independent corroboration. What, they may not have. And besides, her credibility is shot. She sold the story to tabloids. I would never file on this case either (from what we know). Not on anyone, rich or not. The "average American" you reference, would not be charged with evidence like this either. Possession charges require that you catch the person "possessing" the drugs. We haven't been treated to that evidence yet. I have said from the very beginning, Rush will never be prosecuted. At least, not on what we have read. They don't have anything. What I see here is that this was all just an effort to embarrass and discredit Rush. And if the DA's office was at all involved in the leaking or release of this information, that this is very unethical. To possibly release information, that you know you cannot make a case with, just to discredit someone. Hope that didn't happen.

[anniegetyourgun]

Now, you're not suggesting that there might be folks in PB County government who would find glee in such a 'leak' are you?

[RightOnline]

"Rush has railed against drug users and said that they all should be thrown in jail."

I don't think so, sparky. Have listened to him since he was a local guy in Sacramento; NEVER heard him say anything of the sort. Of course, if you can prove it......................

[enough]

Here's something else fishy. . . .

David Clime gets a legitimate prescription for painkillers for a back injury. Rush finds out. Asks wifeypoo the maid to share a couple of these legtimately attained pain pills. Then, Rush is 'demanding' more from her! (I mean, pills attained per a legitmately script, are finite) Before you know it, she is trafficking over 90,000 pills.

Ole Wilma's job description goes from housecleaner to black market pill pusher lickity split.

This whole scenario doesn't pass the smell test. . .

[Don Munn]

I tired of seeing home pages quoting the bible and then see your postings without any compassion for anyone but your self

[rs79bm]

Gee, you mean a guy that’s worth at least 250 million dollars

Do you mean the drug dealer or Rush. Certainly you wouldn't be bashing Rush. If you are, give me a break. I mean, this is a guy who has gone through the unspeakable in his business, losing his ability to hear.

[steve50]

I don't think so, sparky. Have listened to him since he was a local guy in Sacramento; NEVER heard him say anything of the sort. Of course, if you can prove it...................... "What this says to me," he told his listeners that day, "is that too many whites are getting away with drug use. Too many whites are getting away with drug sales. Too many whites are getting away with trafficking in this stuff. The answer to this disparity is not to start letting people out of jail because we're not putting others in jail who are breaking the law. The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river, too."

He seems to think he should be in jail for this, if true.

[Becki]

And besides, her credibility is shot. She sold the story to tabloids.

I don't think that her credibility was the point of concern. They never did want to prosecute him. They only wanted to discredit him.

That is most likely why they sat on it for a couple of years. If it had run alone, it would have never have been believed, and would have been relegated to the same pile as the photos of Rush meeting the space aliens.

And that was worth well over the 250,00 she was said to have been paid by the NE. Any one of the Dems would have gladly thrown that amount into the kitty for this.

Becki

[Let's Roll]

Since Rush's father, brother, grandfather etc. are/were all attorneys, I think he knows the difference between lawyers and the kind of lawyers who try to get anyone, guilty of anything, off.

Rush isn't just a celebrity being accused here. He's a celebrity who will have the entire dim party pulling every string they can find to destroy him but I guess he should just trust in the rightness of his cause and not even bother with getting legal representation because of the irony?

[Reagan Renaissance]

Addicts have no problem with denying their drug use or drug problem. They are practiced, skillful and professional performers that can lie very convincingly. They are also skilled and practiced victims that have no problem portraying their victimology for the maxim effect. Rush may well be caught up in a drug investigation and might have obtained some drugs from these people in some misguided fashion that was illegal, but Rush does not portray any signs of a "drug problem" or drug abuse.

Put your money on Rush as having the last word on this subject. I hope the Democratic/Clinton smear machine gets what it has coming to it.

[Damagro]

So according to the Palm Beach prosecutor, its safe and acceptable for all dope addicts to come to Palm Beach and shoot / snort and smoke crack, right?

---

Exactly when was it that Rush was found to be in posession of these drugs? When was he found to be under the influence? This still sounds like a botched extortion attempt to me