LIMBAUGH'S LEGAL LIMBO ENDS

Experts Say Both Sides Can Declare The Resolution To Drug Case A Win

WEST PALM BEACH -- After three years under suspicion, Rush Limbaugh
can finally put behind him an investigation that exposed the
conservative commentator's own drug problems and thrust him into the
spotlight for the very things he derided in others on his radio talk
show.

None of it affected his ratings for a show that airs weekdays on
nearly 600 stations and draws about 20 million listeners a week,
Limbaugh spokesman Tony Knight said.

"This investigation didn't have any impact on his audience or on his
advertising," Knight said Saturday, a day after defense lawyers
announced a deal with prosecutors that will see a single prescription
fraud charge dismissed after 18 months if Limbaugh stays drug-free and
doesn't violate any laws.

Prosecutors launched their investigation in 2003 after Limbaugh's
housekeeper alleged he abused OxyContin and other painkillers.
Limbaugh entered a five-week rehabilitation program and blamed his
addiction on severe back pain.

But is the deal a victory for Limbaugh?

"This is a dismissal of the charge . . . representing, in effect, a
win for the defense," said Kendall Coffey, a former U.S. attorney and
prominent Miami defense lawyer.

"Having said that, I wouldn't call this case a major defeat for the
prosecution. They fought and won an important legal point in
establishing that you can use a search warrant in Florida to secure
medical records," Coffey added. "That's an important precedent for
prosecutors around the state. This could be the rare situation where
both sides made a deal and can walk away feeling some
satisfaction."

Michael Seigel, a University of Florida law professor and former
federal prosecutor, said the deal also allows Limbaugh "to save face."

"Given the high-profile nature of this, it's an indication to me that
if Rush Limbaugh thought he could win the case and be vindicated, he
would go to trial," Seigel said. "He's not asking for his day in court."

The 55-year-old commentator surrendered Friday at the Palm Beach
County jail on a warrant charging that in 2003, Limbaugh withheld
information from a practitioner from whom he sought a prescription
that he had received medications from another practitioner within 30
days, in violation of Florida law.

Limbaugh was booked, photographed and fingerprinted before posting
$3,000 bail and being released.

Under the terms of the deal called a pretrial diversion, to be filed
Monday, Limbaugh will be cleared of the charge if he stays clean for
18 months, doesn't violate any laws, pays $30,000 to defray the cost
of the investigation and continues therapy and drug testing, according
to Black, who called the charge a formality to bring closure to the
case.

Black said Limbaugh has been drug-free for 2 1/2 years.

Mike Edmondson, spokesman for the Palm Beach County State Attorney's
Office, said the pending deal is typical in such cases.

"It's really standard for someone who is dealing with their
addiction," Edmondson said Saturday. "It's a diversion specifically
for first-time offenders with no prior criminal history or arrest."

Before his own problems became public, Limbaugh had lambasted drug
users and often made the case that drug crimes deserve punishment,
once saying on his short-lived television show in 1995 that users
"ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to
be sent up."