Lawyer: Limbaugh's alleged plea bogus

MIAMI, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- The public disclosure of Rush Limbaugh's alleged attempt at a plea deal has split the south Florida legal community, the Miami Herald reported Tuesday.

Prosecutors for the Palm Beach County district attorney's office Monday released records of an apparent attempt by Limbaugh's lawyer to avoid jail through a plea agreement.

Limbaugh's lawyer, Roy Black, denied his communications with the prosecutors were anything like a plea negotiation and ripped the man behind the disclosure.

Specifically, Black accused Mike Edmondson, spokesman for the Palm Beach County state attorney's office, of improperly leaking what he called a "false story" about a supposed plea deal and called for an investigation of Edmondson.

In more measured tones, law school experts have questioned the wisdom of Edmondson's disclosure.

"There has to be some thought about the long-term consequence" of releasing such documents, said Robert Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University. "And the long-term consequence in this case is that no one would begin a negotiation about a plea."

Edmondson, meanwhile, responded that his office had not violated any rules or protocols.

The conservative talk radio host has been accused of "shopping" for doctors to attain thousands of painkillers.