Case Against Limbaugh Called Weak

NewsMax.com ^ | 10/04/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

Despite screaming front page headlines and top-of-the-hour news reports suggesting that Rush Limbaugh is in legal hot water over allegations that he abused painkillers over a four year period, prosecutors and attorneys said Saturday that any actual criminal case against the top talk star would be weak.

James Martz, the prosecutor who heads up the Palm Beach County, Florida task force investigating the Limbaugh case noted that police never actually caught the talk star purchasing any drugs. "Shy of that, we have very little leverage in the state system," he told the Palm Beach Post.

Martz said he is more interested in finding the heads of drug distribution cells rather than going after alleged low-level prescription drug users like Limbaugh.

Florida attorney Michael Salnick agreed that the case is weak, telling the Post, "I think that the state better have a heck of a lot more than what I'm seeing, hearing and reading right now."

"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 attorney said.

"I think it's legal suicide to go after a guy like Limbaugh with evidence as flimsy as this," Salnick added.

Another problem is that one of Limbaugh's accusers, David Cline, was convicted himself on cocaine trafficking charges in 1982.

What about the wire worn by Cline's wife Wilma, Limbaugh's housekeeper who told the Enquirer that she taped their last two drug transactions?

Apparently the recording is more legally problematic for the Clines than it is for Limbaugh. Attorneys told the Post that if Mrs. Cline did tape Limbaugh without his knowledge, she committed a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

What more, prosecutor Martz said such an illegally obtained recording would be inadmissible in court.

How about the emails supplied by Cline that purportedly document Limbaugh's drug deals?

Martz told the Post that any such evidence is of little value because it's difficult to actually verify who sent the email.

Further weakening any possible prosecution is the issue of Limbaugh's celebrity, which Florida attorney Marc Shiner said complicates 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," Shiner added, referring to the lawyer Limbaugh has reportedly hired, "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."

[Nov3]

For make no mistake, we are the real target.

Spot on!

[TFMcGuire]

Please let me know your results.

[jammer]

Pretty good thinking. I hope you're correct. However, if so, Rush should have made an unequivocal statement on Friday.

[jammer]

To answer your question (hypothesizing that this is all true): If the pharmacist and doctor were ethical, there is no way any one or few of them would see or prescribe that many. I don't know about Florida, but I DO know that several states have controlled substances electronic reporting, where each controlled substance prescription is reported to the state. That many numbers of a particular dosage form for a particular patient would be a red flag that no one would risk.

If Florida does NOT have it, they probably have a triplicate prescription system for Schedule II controlled substances, where the state gets a copy of the prescription. Either way, it would be a terrible risk to take--a miscreant just cannot hide his tracks for long.

[alrea]

The media has reportedly been surpressing a large chem/bio cache that was trying to be snuck out of Iraq via Kuwait when the weapons cache was caught by Kuwaiti officials. The cache was reportedly destined to an unknown European nation.

Fox?

[leprechaun9]

The one positve in this is that it is taking "news" time and space away from the 10 DUMBOS that are seeking the nomination of the Democrap Party. This campaigning is a function of a private party (Democrap Party) and is not a government function or goverment related.

The fact that the media (broadcast and print) are so saturated with their tripe is further proof that the media are a very supportive bunch of pimps of the election industry!

[Judith Anne]

I don't believe these allegations for a lot of reasons...first of all, the origin of the accusations is waaaaaay suspect, second, the accusations are unprovable and completely unprosecutable...third, the accusers' backers have so much to gain by making the accusations (the discrediting of a major critic)...fourth, I've never heard anybody say anything about Rush concerning whether or not he was lucid or behaved in a peculiar manner (staggering, slurred speech on the air, etc.)

I think it's all a steaming pile. Democrat strategy to silence a credible guy with a huge national media platform. I don't believe any of it.

I can't believe some of you are saying he ought to come clean, confess, and straighten up. Why? I don't think he's abusing drugs in the first place.

[DanTheAdmin]

Are you still at it? You are working so very hard to convict Rush and one wonders why. So when will you degrade other FReepers with the "drinking the kool-aid" line, again? Why not give Rush a break until the facts come out? You keep comparing us to DU, but if it were one of their own, they would wait for more information, right? Here's another fact you continue to ignore, as it's been posted in reponse to you several times:

Statement on Rush Limbaugh's Hearing Loss

Detroit, October 15, 2001 - Millions of Americans learned recently that radio commentator Rush Limbaugh has lost nearly all his hearing. Now, those millions are beginning to learn why.

A statement issued by his doctors reports that Limbaugh suffers from autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED) - one of 80 known autoimmune diseases. These diseases all have one underlying cause - autoimmunity, the process by which the body's immune system turns on itself, attacking health organs, tissues and cells. A syndrome of progressive hearing loss and/or dizziness over a matter of weeks or months, AIED is caused by antibodies or immune cells that attack the inner ear. As with many autoimmune diseases, diagnosis is often difficult, few treatment options are available and there are no known cures, according to the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA).

"Since AIED and the other autoimmune diseases all share a common cause -autoimmunity - one clue to finding more effective treatments, better diagnostic tools, and perhaps, even one day a cure lies in researching the diseases collectively," said Dr. Noel Rose, chair of the AARDA's Scientific Advisory Board and professor of Pathology, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, The Johns Hopkins University. "The thinking is that a treatment or diagnostic tool developed for one disease may prove to be effective in treating one or more other autoimmune disorders."

Currently, the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communications Disorders of the National Institutes of Health is recruiting patients to participate in an AIED clinical research trial to determine whether prednisone, methotrexate and cyclophosphamide are effective treatments for rapidly progressive hearing loss in both ears. Many autoimmune and connective tissue disorders have associations with sensorineural hearing loss or hearing loss caused by faulty sensory nerves. These disorders include Cogan's syndrome, Meniere's disease, Takayasu's arteritis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Behcet's disease and Sjogren's syndrome, among others.

Approximately 50 million Americans suffer from one or more autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune diseases appear to affect more women than men; it is estimated that some 75 percent are women.

American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association is the nation's only organization dedicated to bringing a national focus to autoimmunity as a category of disease and a major women's health issue, and promoting a collaborative research effort in order to find better treatments and a cure for all autoimmune diseases. For more information, please visit AARDA's web site at www.aarda.org or call 1-888-856-9433

Please, just wait for the facts.

In all respect - Dan

[lainie]

The Left's biggest mistake is to underestimate the power of truth.

That's true. But the right sometimes underestimates the power of socialism. Some human beings simply want a nanny. I guess they think they need an established pecking order.

[Exigence]

Actually none of those have occured yet, however, with your head stuck in the sand . . . . . . . .

A freeper who doesn't care about the Constitution? The heck with innocent until proven guilty and waiting for the facts, eh? I'm not surprised. Public schools and all, right? *G*