Blogtopia (yes! skippy invented that phrase!) was all a-twitter last night on news that Rush Limbaugh had been arrested. Alas, the truth is much less sexy. Rush 'turned himself in on a warrant', in Florida law enforcement parlance, in order to plead out to a new, lesser charge. Presumably he couldn't plead out to the original charge and still get the sweetheart deal his very expensive lawyer, Roy Black, negotiated for him.
All future defendants in drug cases in Florida should make the Rush Limbaugh Lame Excuses Argument:
The news that Limbaugh, a savage critics of others' moral behavior, was addicted to drugs was taken as a sign of hypocrisy by his detractors. His friends and staunchest fans, however, said Limbaugh was merely working through the kinds of challenges that can affect anyone.
I can just see the crackheads at their arraignments now: "Your honor, I was just working through the kinds of challenges that can affect anyone. Please let me plead out to a lesser charge, give me a fine I can pay with my eyes closed, and leave me with a clean record so I can still vote. Ok, everybody?"
Not happening for anybody else. Rush got Rich White Boy Junkie treatment. He's still a junkie.
WaPo: Rush Limbaugh Turns Himself In On Fraud Charge In Rx Drug Probe
MIAMI, April 28 -- Talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh surrendered to authorities Friday on a charge of committing fraud to obtain prescription drugs, concluding an investigation that for more than two years has hovered over the law-and-order conservative.
The charge will be dropped in 18 months, said his attorney, Roy Black, provided that Limbaugh continues treatment for drug addiction, as he has for 2 1/2 years. According to an agreement with the Palm Beach County state's attorney's office, Limbaugh also must pay $30,000 to defray the costs of the investigation, as well as $30 a month for his supervision.
The agreement is not an admission of guilt to the charge, which was fraud by concealing information to obtain a prescription.
A spokesman for the state's attorney's office, Mike Edmondson, said the agreement dropping the charge is "standard for first-time offenders who admit their addiction."
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In court documents, investigators connected Limbaugh to 19 prescriptions for the drugs Lorcet, Norco and hydrocodone called in between April and August 2003. The prescriptions were issued by doctors in New York, Florida and California. According to medical records, Limbaugh's doctor in Palm Beach County was unaware of some of the other prescriptions.
Limbaugh was using prodigious amounts of the painkillers, according to the documents. In May 2003, a prescription for 50 tablets of Lorcet was filled for Limbaugh at the Zitomer Pharmacy on Madison Avenue in New York. The tablets were to be taken at a rate of two a day, and at that pace the prescription should have lasted 25 days. Three days later, a prescription was filled for Limbaugh at the same pharmacy for another 50 tablets. A third prescription for 96 tablets of Norco was filled about the same time at the Lewis Pharmacy in Palm Beach, according to the court documents.
WaPo: Limbaugh Reaches Settlement in Drug Case
WaPo: Limbaugh cuts deal in drug probe
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