Limbaugh records issue back in court

The commentator's attorney asks a judge to limit prosecutors' review of doctors' records seized in a drug investigation.

WEST PALM BEACH - Rush Limbaugh's attorney urged a judge Tuesday to limit the medical records that prosecutors can review for their investigation into whether the radio commentator illegally purchased painkillers.

Attorney Roy Black said the records, which were seized in 2003, should be reviewed by a judge before they are opened to prosecutors.

"We're talking about privacy matters and privileged matters," Black told Palm Beach Circuit Judge Jeffrey A. Winikoff. "The remedy is them not seeing the various procedures and medical things that have nothing do to with the items they are investigating."

Assistant State Attorney James Martz said investigators have agreed not to publicly disclose personal details from the medical records. He urged Winikoff to act quickly because the investigation has been stalled more than 18 months by appeals.

"There's not an investigation in criminal law that gets better with time. This thing has been protracted and protracted and protracted," Martz said.

Winikoff gave no indication when he would issue a ruling.

Limbaugh hoped to keep his records closed to prosecutors but lost at the circuit and appellate court levels. The Florida Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Limbaugh argued that the case threatens privacy rights, a point that drew the support of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Prosecutors obtained search warrants and seized the records after learning that Limbaugh received about 2,000 painkillers, prescribed by four doctors in six months, at a pharmacy near his Palm Beach mansion. They are investigating whether Limbaugh engaged in "doctor shopping," or illegally deceiving multiple doctors to obtain overlapping prescriptions.

Limbaugh has not been charged with a crime and has maintained his innocence.

He has acknowledged he became addicted to pain medication, blaming it on severe back pain, and took a five-week leave from his afternoon radio show to enter a rehabilitation program in 2003.

[Last modified June 1, 2005, 00:37:02]