Florida Statutes
893.135 Trafficking; mandatory sentences;

(c)1. Any person who knowingly sells, purchases, manufactures, delivers, or brings into this state, or who is knowingly in actual or constructive possession of, 4 grams or more of oxycodone, or 4 grams or more of any mixture containing any such substance, but less than 30 kilograms of such substance or mixture, commits a felony of the first degree, which felony shall be known as “trafficking in illegal drugs,” punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. If the quantity involved:

c. Is 28 grams or more, but less than 30 kilograms, such person shall be sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 25 calendar years and pay a fine of $500,000.

b. Is 14 grams or more, but less than 28 grams, such person shall be sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 15 years, and the defendant shall be ordered to pay a fine of $100,000.

a. Is 4 grams or more, but less than 14 grams, such person shall be sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 3 years, and the defendant shall be ordered to pay a fine of $50,000.

First, there are (in Alaska) deferred prosecutions, suspended imposition of sentences, and suspended sentences. They refer to three differenct outcomes.

A suspended sentence is easiest to understand. The defendant is convicted and sentenced to jail. Then the judge says, I will suspend the sentence, or part of it, on the following conditions: submit to urinalysis, commit no crimes, take a course in anger management, or some other conditions. Usually, the conditions include reporting to a probation officer, and in Alaska, they are the same people who supervise parole (which has to do with release after serving a portion of a jail or prison sentence.) A judge can suspend all or a part of a sentence. The judge can also impose a fine and suspend none, all or a portion of it.

A suspended imposition of sentence is a more favorable outcome forf the defendant. When the judge suspends imposition of sentence, the defendant is convicted, but the judge postpones entry of the judgment. Again, the defendant is on probation, but no specific sentence is hanging over him or her. The judge says, at the end of the year (or whatever period she imposes) “instead of sentencing you, I will set aside the conviction, and dismiss the case.” At that point, (like Rush if he is successful) the defendant can say, “there has never been a criminal judgment against me; I have no convictions.” If he fails probation, the judge can impose any legal sentence.

Rush got an even better deal. He got a deferred prosecution. In this case the prosecutor says, I will make a deal: I will hold off prosecution, and if you are good for a year (defined as clean UAs, etc.) I will just let the case go, i.e. I will dismiss it. This is a great deal, because the defendant is never even convicted unless he fouls out of the program. Conditions that are regularly imposed include doing community service such as picking up litter on the highway.

Now if you think about it, Rush was arrested. It is likely that his speedy trial rights are implicated. Obviously, he doesn’t want a speedy trial — he doesn’t want any trial at all. So, if Florida is like Alaska, he would have to give an explicit waiver of his speedy trial rights. This might be in a written agreement in the prosecutors office.

Most defendants would do anything to get this deal, including but not limited to signing away their speedy trial rights. There are also due process rights connected with speedy prosecution, and these must be waived, too.

Since there is no conviction, there can be no fine, and so, the defendant sometimes agrees to pay “court costs,” which are the same in all but name. If the prosecution is reinstated, and a conviciton results, the defendant can be fined up to the maximum amount provided by law. (No automatic credit for the court costs.)

In Alaska, the fact that there is no conviction, means that there is no probation officer. Sometimes this is called “informal probation.” By way of analogy, the defendant’s situation is like a defendant out on bail, in our state system. (Contra: the federal system where the P.O.s also supervise pre-trial release.) Who might Rush be submitting pee to? In Alaska, he would have a lab fax the test results to the prosecutor.

Now here’s the really interesting part. In the document in which the defendant waives his speedy trial rights, etc., it is normal for the defendant to also waive the privilege against self incrimination, and admit that the facts alleged are true. He may also admit that the facts contained in the police report are true, stipulate to their admissibility, and that they are sufficient to sustain a conviction. The defendant also waives the right to a jury. The idea here is that if the prosecutor has to re-instate the prosecution, the trial can be completed in less than 5 minutes.

Therefore, if Florida follows the pattern of Alaska, there is probably a document out there, where Rush Limbaugh admits to a very serious crime. Since this stuff is a tad arcane, I don’t know if any investigative reporters are investigating or reporting.

Visit the Schapira blog, What we know so far…

“… and tell ’em Big Mitch sent ya!â€

I have utter compassion for addicts – every single person in my family is a recovering addict. I also taught highschool, working with students who have drug problems. I have seen how drugs can destroy and/or end lives.

I also hate the drug laws in this country. But Rush’s abuse of THIS drug is different.

First of all, he has brought tremendous publicity to this drug – which made my students want to get ahold of it and try it (it wasn’t that they liked Rush, it was simply the publicity).

But worse than this, it feeds in to this paranoia of doctors to treat pain. (Seee DonS, post 106). How does he “know” that his patients are pretending?

Last year, I had a herniated disc, which was so painful that I fainted and vomitted as I crawled to the bathroom. I saw an emergency doctor, who refused to give me any pain meds, and wrote in my record, “Patient looking for narcotics?”

I have a friend with 7 herniated discs – and constantly has to fight/beg/plead for meds.

And my mother – who spent 20 years as a V.A. nurse, working with spinal cord injuries, has now discovered her vertebrae are crumbling around her spine, and there is no treatment. Just pain management. And she has to fight her doctors for effective pain meds.

It is people like Rush who have contributed to the Government intruding into the medical profession, making doctors paranoid, and taking effective meds out of the mouths of those who truly need it. I hate him.

But there is no fairness in this world – except death. May Rush die alone and in excruciating pain.

I’ve noticed that addicts largely lose touch with the notion of threshold of pain, and use any pain, or imagined pain to “accept” a script(and many doctors are only to willing to oblige; some not so willing in the current climate). Many of my clients have honed acting to scam drugs at the ER to a fine art.

Finally, try to talk about alternative approaches to pain management and you get a big guffaw.

Maybe we can work out a deal where we exchange Rush for one undocumented immigrant:

that’s harly fair to mexico. we’d get someone who would do an honest days work, and they’d get a blowhard who’s never done a day of work in his life.