By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//February 10, 2012//
By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//February 10, 2012//
United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit
Criminal
Controlled substances – distribution — sufficiency of the evidence
Where a doctor administered large doses of controlled substances outside the normal course of his medical practice, the evidence was sufficient to convict him of distributing a controlled substance unlawfully.
“Obviously, the facts here do not fall within these more common ‘drug pusher’ cases: Pellmann was not charged with prescribing controlled substances to hundreds of patients, conducting perfunctory examinations, or issuing cookie-cutter prescriptions. Still, there was certainly ample evidence, considered together, for a reasonable jury to determine that Pellmann acted outside of his professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose, including: (1) during 2009, Pellmann ordered 30 times his previous average, annual needs of fentanyl and morphine for his entire practice, all of the excess going to Evans; (2) Pellmann regularly administered fentanyl and morphine to Evans at her home and at Pellmann’s home, both of which resembled (for lack of a better description) drug houses; (3) Pellmann maintained no records of distribution of drugs to Evans or his treatment of her, including his apparently concocted diagnosis of trigeminal neuralgia; (4) Pellmann’s treatment of Evans was wholly outside his use of fentanyl and morphine in his professional practice; (5) Pellmann’s employees were kept in the dark about his claimed treatment of Evans; and (6) following his arrest and initial arraignment, Pellmann again took Evans to a hotel and administered drugs in direct violation of a court order. As detailed in Part I of this opinion, this evidence is not only sufficient to support the jury’s conviction, it is overwhelming.”
Affirmed.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Clevert, J., Conley, J.