Limbaugh Prosecutor Admits Records Seizure an Invasion of Privacy

Palm Beach County Assistant State Attorney James Martz admitted yesterday that when his office seized the medical records of top talk radio host Rush Limbaugh in November, it was an extreme invasion of privacy - comparing the action to a legally justifiable strip search of a drug suspect.

Though Limbaugh has not been charged with a crime, Martz "asked judges to consider very intimate invasions of privacy that have been upheld by the courts – including strip searches and forced removal of evidence from people's bodies," according to Tuesday's Palm Beach Post.

The Palm Beach prosecutor invoked a 1999 case in which the same court ruled it was justified to seize medical records by warrant in a criminal investigation.

In his court filing, Martz argued that his office didn't need to get a subpoena before confiscating the talk host's medical files, saying such a procedure was not applicable because investigators had established probable cause in a criminal case to seize the records.

But the Florida lawman made no mention of another precedent - this one set by his own office just last year in a case very much like Limbaugh's.

As NewsMax.com reported last week, Palm Beach County Judge Robert Schwartz checked himself into a treatment center after an eight-year addiction to the painkiller OxyContin – the same drug Limbaugh used.

But unlike the top talker, who has also completed a successful treatment program, Judge Schwartz's decision to go into detox was enough for Martz's boss, Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer, to let him off the hook.

In fact, prosecutor Martz himself admitted just days after the Limbaugh drug story broke that the state had no real case because the talk host was not actually caught purchasing drugs.

"Shy of that, we have very little leverage in the state system," he told the Palm Beach Post.

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