Unauthorized Drug Distribution-Jury Instructions

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Robert Hofschulz

Case No.: 21-3403

Officials: Sykes, Chief Judge, and Rovner and Kirsch, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Unauthorized Drug Distribution-Jury Instructions

A nurse practitioner, Lisa Hofschulz, and her ex-husband, Robert Hofschulz, were convicted of conspiracy and multiple counts of unauthorized drug distribution, including one count resulting in a patient’s death. These charges arose from their operation of a “pain clinic” that functioned as an opioid mill, dispensing opioid prescriptions for cash-only payments. Robert Hofschulz was also convicted for assisting Lisa Hofschulz in running the opioid mill.

The Hofschulzes were initially tried in the Eastern District of Wisconsin. They were found guilty on all counts, with Lisa Hofschulz receiving a minimum 20-year prison term for the count of unlawful distribution resulting in death, and Robert Hofschulz receiving concurrent terms of 36 months in prison for each of his five convictions. The Hofschulzes appealed their convictions on three grounds: they claimed the jury instructions were inconsistent with a Supreme Court decision, that the judge wrongly permitted the government’s medical expert to testify about the standard of care, and that the evidence was insufficient to support their convictions.

The court found no instructional error, stating that the district judge had correctly instructed the jury that the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Hofschulzes intended to distribute controlled substances and intended to do so in an unauthorized manner. The court also found that the judge had correctly permitted the government’s medical expert to testify about the standard of care in the usual course of professional pain management. Lastly, the court dismissed the Hofschulzes’ challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, deeming it frivolous. The court affirmed the Hofschulzes’ convictions.

Affirmed.

Decided 06/25/24

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