John Patrick Couch, Petitioner v. United States
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July 18, 2024
Docs Get Same Hefty Opioid Sentences Despite Top Court Win
Two Alabama doctors accused of unlawfully prescribing patients fentanyl and other opioids failed to shave time off their lengthy prison sentences despite a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that raised the bar for such prosecutions.
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November 06, 2023
Justices Rebuff Opioid Doctor's Quest For 2nd Round
The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition Monday from an Alabama opioid prescriber who asked the justices to review whether lower courts have ignored the tougher prosecution standard established in his own Supreme Court case.
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June 27, 2023
Supreme Court's Opioid Edict Spawns 'Troubling' Divisions
Against long odds, two doctors facing decades in prison implored the U.S. Supreme Court to harmonize jury instructions in opioid crisis prosecutions, insisting that innocence in one circuit could be guilt in another. They ultimately prevailed, but one year later, the circuit split surprisingly appears even starker, as one of the doctors eyes freedom, and the other still might live out his life behind bars.
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June 05, 2023
Circuits 'Didn't Get The Memo' On Opioid Cases, Justices Told
A doctor who persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to demand stronger proof of intentional misconduct in prosecutions of opioid prescribers is seeking a sequel to his triumph last year, accusing federal appeals courts of widely flouting the demand and effectively allowing regulators to invent felony offenses.
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January 05, 2023
11th Circ. Axes Docs' Pill Convictions After High Court Ruling
The Eleventh Circuit tossed drug-related convictions against two Alabama doctors Thursday, after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in their case called for a substantive showing of intentional impropriety when federal opioid prosecutors go after pills-for-profits schemes under the Controlled Substances Act.