Did Rush Limbaugh Get Off Easy in OxyContin Case?

[mainegreen]

Did Rush Limbaugh Get Off Easy in OxyContin Case?
from law.com
Rebecca Riddick
Daily Business Review

While critics say conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh got off easy in his deal last week with Palm Beach County prosecutors to avoid drug charges, some legal experts say the settlement was a fair one for a first-time drug offender.
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In Palm Beach County, Edmondson said, drug offenders do not face incarceration unless they've failed opportunities to deal with their addiction and have turned to crime to maintain their drug habit.
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The irony in this case, he said, is that Limbaugh long advocated tough punishment of drug offenders. In 1995, he famously said that drug users "ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up."

"It would be a shame if he got what he advocates for everybody else," Lefcourt said.

Experts said Limbaugh probably got a good deal for several reasons.

Lefcourt said low-income drug users generally sell drugs or commit other crimes to finance their drug habit, while Limbaugh could afford to pay thousands of dollars for his drugs.

So here's the message kids, if your rich, you don't have to commit crimes to finance your drugs, so we'll just slap your wrist! You see, he could afford it, so it's not so bad! :sarcasm:

[Bozita]

1. Ask Tommy Chong.

[ThomCat]

5. #@$%! Damn Right!

The difference between the two cases shows the hypocracy.

Tommy spend all those months in jail for selling glass pipes. Rush spends not one single minute in jail for having thousands of illegal pills.

Anyone who claims that concervatives don't get special privilages in our society is delusional.
:grr:

[LostinVA]

26. That was an absolute travesty

[BOSSHOG]

2. limbaugh used the tax cuts provided by bush to buy his drugs

Well, now he has one strike on record. He got a good deal for "several reasons." Yeah, dollars. Your take is "right on the money" so to speak.

[Bozita]

Rush's taxcuts paid for Roy Black

[BiggJawn]

3. Sure he did.

We can only hope that he relapses before his 18 months is up.

[papau]

4. 12000 pills, 4 doctors, over 90 day period - you don't get "diversion"

in my world.

[Caution]

6. No he got what EVERY American should get

leniency for those addicted to drugs and whose crime is non-violent. It's just a shame that everyone doesn't get this.

I wish Rush had gotten what everyone else gets because then maybe the f%$#er would actually say something worthwhile about drug law reform. As it stands now he'll use himself as an example of how the system "works like it should" rather than what it really is which is an example of how a rich white guy can buy his way to justice.

[biscotti]

7. It seems criminal

that he got off with the crime.

[bullimiami]

8. not to mention sending his housekeeper to buy pills in parking lots.

he got off like noone else would have. only the rich and powerful. he didnt even have to plead guilty.
and in 18 months it all goes away?

thats just wrong.

[Bozita]

12. iirc, that was 4500 pills over 47 days

[joeunderdog]

18. By implication, having that much OXY is Receiving Stolen Goods.

You can't grow the stuff. When someone gets busted with it, RSG is automatic for most cops. Possession, Within 1000 Feet of a School...it would be easy to pile on and make a statement. Oxy is some serious shit and he couldn't have had all those for "personal use" even for a fat fuck like him. Kids are getting hooked and switching right to Heroin because it's affordable. And he's a role model. :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[papau]

25. That much OXY makes a dealer charge automatic - except if you're Rush

:-(

[papau]

23. Steffani talk keeps referring to 12000 over 90 days - is she just rounding

a bit or is the final inditement rather kind in describing the original situation?

[Bozita]

24. the 4500 was just what the housekeeper picked up for Rush

[pointblank]

27. 12000 oxycontin

OVER 90 DAYS

Man he must have been jacked up. How can anyone take that hillbilly heroin hypocritical hippo seriuosly after this...I mean are people crazy? (never mind, dont answer that)

[pnwmom]

9. By his OWN STANDARDS, he certainly did.

"Put 'em in jail and throw away the key." (Not an exact quote)

[KyuzoGator]

10. He got off easy by his own standards. nt

[ComerPerro]

11. One thing they are really overlooking

is people who don't have much money, even if they don't do other crimes to support their habit, are still screwed. They can't afford the kind of legal representation required to get a deal like this...

[aden_nak]

13. If he wasn't a celebrity he wouldn't have been a first time offender.

[erpowers]

14. Yes

I tend to think so. I think if some poor person or some poor black person had done what Limbaugh did they would be going to jail right now. They may not have been given ten-twenty years, but they would have spent a few months in jail. As one of the people asked to talk about this on the CBS early show said, currently people are being prosecuted for what Limbaugh did.

[Neil Lisst]

15. no first timer with that quantity and number of violations would get such

a deal

People who have done a lot less have gotten two years prison for his offense.

[tsuki]

16. $30,000 to pay for a four year investigation in Florida by the FDLE?

That wasn't much of an investigation. No wonder he got off.

[Redbear]

17. In my experience, his deal is pretty typical for a first offense.

The only part where he got a break is most of the time they also require a guilty plea. With that guilty plea in hand, if the Defendant screws up his probation, he will be easily convicted without further proof.

If anal cyst guy screws up his probation and has dirty UA, the state will then have to prove he was guilty on the original charge.

[MadHound]

19. Sorry, I have to disagree

I don't live in Florida, and don't know the precidents set there, but here in Missouri, if it was you or I busted with 12,000 pills, and four doctors, we would be going to jail for 5-10 for possession with intent to distribute.

Rush got a break on this due to his fame, money and the power of his backers. You and I, we would have been doing hard time months ago.

[Ganja Ninja]

20. So it's not really a war on drugs.

It's a war on poverty and the poor are the enemy.

[etherealtruth]

21. ... and have been for a long time.

Reagan made it "OK" for "Christans" to despise the poor.

I use the word Christains with quotations because vilification of the poor seems to be counter to the true Christian message

[catmandu57]

22. Yes he did

but he'll never stay clean, he's a major junkie, next time around he won't be nearly as lucky good lawyer or not.

[Uncle Joe]

28. Does Cheney shoot in the woods? n/t

[butterfly77]

29. Yeah, that fat hypocrite needs to go...

Tell that to the young man who is in jail for thirty years for one joint!