Pubdate: Sat, 21 May 2005 Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Copyright: 2005 Sun-Sentinel Company Contact: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159 Author:Peter Franceschina Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/rush+limbaugh PROSECUTORS: HAND OVER LIMBAUGH'S RECORDS Now that a judge, an appeals court and the Florida Supreme Court have said Palm Beach County prosecutors properly seized Rush Limbaugh's medical records, prosecutors are asking that the records be turned over to them. The records, seized from four doctors in late 2003 as part of an investigation in Limbaugh's prescription drug use, are under seal in the possession of Palm Beach Circuit Judge Jeffrey Winikoff. Prosecutors filed a motion Thursday asking Winikoff to turn the records over to them, and a hearing on the issue is scheduled for Monday morning. Limbaugh, 54, a Palm Beach resident, has not been charged with any crimes. Limbaugh's attorney, Roy Black, filed motions on Friday saying that Winikoff should not decide the issue and cited a ruling from the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach. That ruling upheld the decision by prosecutors to seize the records using search warrants. It also said Black could ask the judge who issued the warrants to review the records to determine which of them are relevant to the investigation. Prosecutors are simply asking that all the records be turned over. Palm Beach Circuit Judge Thomas Barkdull issued three of the four search warrants. A judge in Los Angeles issued the fourth search warrant for one of Limbaugh's doctors, an ear specialist, there. Black said in his court filings that Barkdull should review the records and determine which of them are relevant. Winikoff was the first judge to get the case, and he determined prosecutors were entitled to all the records. Prosecutors have said in a letter to Black that they believe Limbaugh committed doctor-shopping felonies by secretly obtaining overlapping prescriptions from different doctors in a one-month period. Black argues that the records should be limited to the time between March 2003 and September 2003. Prosecutors cited that time frame in their search warrants, saying pharmacy records showed Limbaugh picked up 1,733 hydrocodone pills, 90 OxyContin pills, 50 Xanax tablets and 40 pills of time-release morphine from different doctors. Prosecutors want all the records, regardless of the time they cover. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin