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Convictions Stay for Pain Clinic

 
Paul Nelson; The Sun News / MyrtleBeachOnline.com; 2005-12-02; Posted: 2006-02-12
[Identifier: http://www.doctordeluca.com/Library/WOD/WPS6-MyrtleBeach/MyrtleBeachConvictionsStay05.htm]
[Source: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/13308600.htm%3E]
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See also:
Dr. Bordeaux Comments on the Myrtle Beach Massacre Trials: Dirty Plea Bargains, Perjury and a Confused Jury - Deborah. Bordeaux; NFTP listServ; 2005
The Myrtle Beach Massacre archives
Other WAR ON PAIN SUFFERERS collections:  Dr. William Hurwitz  ;  Dr. Nelson - Billings, MT  ;  Dr. Knox and Beverly Boone  ;  Medical Marijuana
 

The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, however, ruled Thursday that the punishment meted out to defendants Michael Jackson, Ricardo Alerre and Deborah Bordeaux was unfair and remanded it to the federal court in Florence for re-sentencing.

The doctors were all convicted of multiple counts of drug distribution, drug conspiracy and money-laundering conspiracy while practicing at the Comprehensive Care and Pain Management Center.

The trio had sought to overturn their convictions on the grounds that their lawyers were incompetent and engaged in prejudicial misconduct.

They also argued that the evidence presented at their trial two years ago did not support their convictions on money laundering.

In their decision, the judges ruled the defendants "do not point to any specific trial error that prejudiced them" or anything that was "improperly introduced" in their contention that they were tried for civil malpractice and not criminal distribution of drugs.

"They are unable to show that a substandard performance by their lawyers conclusively appears from the record, and they have also failed to demonstrate that the prosecutors engaged in any improper conduct relating to the standard of proof or their use of evidence," according to the court document.

The defendants were charged with and convicted of conspiring to commit money laundering, the ruling says.

Siobhan Reynolds of Pain Relief Network, who has followed the case closely, blasted this latest court decision, adding that it has a "horrible, chilling effect on the treatment" of using drugs in South Carolina.

Reynolds, president of the New York-based group that advocates making pain care available to Americans, assailed the government for attempting to take control of medicine by using federal criminal statutes.

[END]