I hope that is right...
On Saturday, October 4, 2003, at 04:00 PM, Charles wrote:
Case Against Limbaugh Called Weak
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."
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