Rush Limbaugh's Pretrial Intervention Agreement
In 2006, political commentator Rush Limbaugh was charged with committing the crime of Withholding Information from a Practitioner. On May 1, 2006, Limbaugh entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the Office of the State Attorney. According to that agreement, the State Attorney's Office agreed to drop his case if he successfully completed the Pretrial Intervention Program.
Conditions 1 through 10 and condition number 12 are all standard conditions of a deferred prosecution agreement. Condition number 11, however, is a special condition requiring that Limbaugh pay costs of investigation totaling $30,000. Moreover, he had to pay that $30,000 within 90 days of signing the agreement. That is an unusually large amount of money to pay for costs of investigation; but then again, it was Rush Limbaugh whom the police were investigating. (It is also an unusually short period of time in which to pay such a large sum of money; but then again, it was Rush Limbaugh who was writing the check.)
Did Limbaugh successfully complete all of the requirements contained in the deferred prosecution agreement including the payment of $30,000? Apparently so. According to court documents, the State Attorney's Office dropped his case on November 5, 2007.
Wait, why is Limbaugh being investigated? And why should someone have to pay for their own investigation like that?
Attorney Chapman's response:
LImbaugh was investigated for obtaining prescription medications by fraud and then abusing those medications. He agreed to pay for the investigative costs in exchange for his case being dropped.