PROSECUTORS SMEARING LIMBAUGH, LAWYER SAYS

The legal team for the national radio talk-show host accuses the Palm Beach
County state attorney of going too far in releasing details of plea
negotiations in the prescription-abuse case.

Lawyer: Prosecutors smearing Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh's attorney mounted an offensive Monday, accusing Palm Beach
County prosecutors of smear tactics and likening his client to any ordinary
American with chronic pain.

"This nation is full of people who take medication every day and will do so
for the rest of their lives," said Roy Black, speaking at a news conference
at the Hotel Intercontinental in downtown Miami.

Discussing the prescription-drug abuse allegations in unprecedented detail,
Black said the quantity of medicine Limbaugh is accused of ingesting --
1,800 pills in 210 days -- works out to roughly 8.5 pills a day, "certainly
not an outrageous amount."

Black questioned the motives of Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry
Krischer in releasing details last week of sensitive plea negotiations
between Limbaugh and prosecutors.

The December correspondence, unflattering to Limbaugh, shows the national
radio talk-show host proposing to settle the case through treatment,
potentially averting a permanent criminal record. Prosecutors countered:
Plead guilty to a single felony charge of "doctor shopping" and avoid
prison time.

Both offers were rejected.

VEILED THREAT

Black said the plea negotiations should not have been released. He
portrayed the incident as part of a politically motivated campaign to
discredit his client.

Black said the government's plea offer came with a veiled threat: If
Limbaugh did not plead guilty, the state would release his confidential
medical records.

"The only conclusion that I can draw is that Mr. Limbaugh . . . is being
singled out more than anyone else for actions that no one else in this
community would be subjected to," Black said.

Black and other prominent South Florida attorneys said they could not
recall another case of plea negotiations being released to the public.

"There has to be some thought about the long-term consequence" of releasing
such documents, said Robert Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern
University. "And the long-term consequence in this case is that no one
would begin a negotiation about a plea."

Michael Edmondson, spokesman for the Palm Beach County state attorney, said
prosecutors were confident they had done the right thing.

Prosecutors consulted the Florida Attorney General's Office and the Florida
Bar in response to the Jan. 15 public records request by the Landmark Legal
Foundation, which sought all available documents in the case. They
concluded the state public records law required releasing the plea dealings
even though doing so violated ethical rules for lawyers.

PUBLIC RECORD?

"The way the Florida public records law works is, anything that is not
specifically exempted under the law is permitted," Edmondson said. State
law trumps any ethical concerns, he said.

But he offered nothing in writing to back up that account. And Limbaugh's
legal team produced documents Monday that seemed to contradict it.

Telephone notes from a Florida Bar attorney, paraphrasing Kirscher himself,
state that plea negotiations "are not normally to be revealed [and] so may
or may not be [a] public record."

JoAnn Carrin, a spokeswoman for the state attorney general, would not say
what legal advice her agency gave the chief Palm Beach County prosecutor,
citing the ongoing investigation.

Prosecutors began investigating possible prescription-drug abuse by
Limbaugh, 53, last year, based on a report from his former maid. Limbaugh
has not been charged with any crime.

Limbaugh's attorney accused Edmondson, the state attorney's spokesman, of
leaking a false story last month that Limbaugh was ready to plead guilty to
doctor-shopping. Edmondson denied the assertion.

Doctor-shopping is duping multiple physicians into dispensing excessive
prescription medications.