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Limbaugh rebuffed by state high court

Its refusal to hear the commentator's appeal may allow prosecutors to open his medical records seized in a drug inquiry.

WEST PALM BEACH - The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday declined to consider an appeal from radio commentator Rush Limbaugh claiming his privacy was violated when his medical records were seized for an investigation of whether he illegally purchased painkillers.

The 4-3 order was issued without explanation. The court said it would not consider any motion for a review of the order.

Search warrants were used to obtain the medical records in 2003. The documents have remain sealed, pending the outcome of the appeals.

A spokesman for Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer declined to say when that office might begin reviewing the records.

Limbaugh took a break from his conservative afternoon talk show Thursday for a doctor's appointment and did not comment on the ruling. "He has not been charged with a crime, and he should not be charged. His medical records will show he received legitimate medical treatment for legitimate medical reasons," Limbaugh's attorney, Roy Black, said in a statement.

Prosecutors seized the records after learning Limbaugh received about 2,000 painkillers, prescribed by four doctors over six months, at a pharmacy near his oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach.

Limbaugh has maintained his innocence while acknowledging he developed an addiction to painkillers after he developed severe back pain. He took a five-week leave from his show in 2003 to go through rehabilitation.

Limbaugh argues that the case threatens privacy rights for all Floridians, a position that has drawn support from the American Civil Liberties Union.

TALLAHASSEE - A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that cast doubt on some death sentences across the country three years ago has no application in Florida, the state Supreme Court ruled.

Florida's high court upheld the state's death sentencing law a few months after the 2002 ruling but left open the possibility the federal decision might help some inmates. That opening was shut Thursday.

In June 2002, the nation's high court ruled that a jury, not a judge, must decide the facts used to justify death sentences. The decision came in an appeal by Arizona death row inmate Timothy Ring.

In Florida, juries in capital cases recommend sentences but judges make the final decisions.

Ruling in a death penalty case Thursday, Florida's high court said the Ring decision has no retroactive application in the state.

[Last modified April 29, 2005, 00:33:10]