A Virginia doctor sentenced to 40 years in prison for prescribing highly addictive opioids more than 500,000 times over a two-year period has been ruled by a federal appeals court, saying instructions given to jurors in his trial misrepresented the law. He was granted a retrial. .
WTOP's Liz Anderson details why doctors ordered a new trial.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia doctor. sentenced to 40 years in prison After prescribing the highly addictive opioid more than 500,000 times over two years, a federal appeals court has granted him a new trial, saying instructions given to jurors at trial misstated the law.
Joel Smithers is Convicted in 2019 Over 800 cases of illegal drug prescription.
During his trial, prosecutors said patients from five states drove hundreds of miles to see him to get prescriptions for oxycodone, fentanyl and other powerful painkillers. Authorities said Smithers led a drug distribution ring that contributed to the opioid abuse crisis in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
In a ruling issued Friday, a three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Smithers' conviction and ordered a new trial.
Jurors in Smithers' trial found that in order to convict Smithers of illegally prescribing drugs, they must have done so “without a legitimate medical purpose or beyond the scope of medical practice.” I was instructed that it must be certified.
However, the appeals court cited a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said a defendant must commit the wrongdoing “intentionally or knowingly” in order to be found guilty of the crime, and the jury instructions The court ruled that it was inappropriate. A jury convicted Smithers in 2019, but his appeal was still pending at the time the verdict was handed down, making his case subject to a 2022 Supreme Court decision.
Writing a 3-0 opinion for a panel of the Fourth Circuit, Judge Roger Gregory cited Smithers' testimony at trial, noting that nearly all of the patients had been involved in serious car or workplace accidents and had legitimate reasons to do so. He said he believes it has a medical purpose. For each prescription he wrote. Gregory said the defense could lead to an acquittal on each unlawful distribution charge against Smithers, even though “the jury may not have believed Smithers' testimony that he was acting for a legitimate medical purpose.” He wrote that he had submitted evidence of sex. .
“In short, the instructional error was not harmless because there was evidence that could have led the jury to reach a contrary verdict,” Gregory wrote.
During Mr. Smithers' trial, one receptionist testified that patients sometimes waited up to 12 hours to see Mr. Smithers, and that Mr. Smithers sometimes kept his office open past midnight. Prosecutors say Smithers had no insurance and received nearly $700,000 in cash and credit cards over two years.
U.S. Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh said in a statement Monday that he “understands the Fourth Circuit's decision in light of recent changes in the law and looks forward to retrying this defendant.”
Smithers' attorney, Beau Brindley, did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment on the verdict.
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