COURT AFFIRMS S.C. DOCTORS' CONVICTIONS BUT ORDERS NEW SENTENCING

RICHMOND, Va. - A federal appeals court on Thursday affirmed the
convictions of three South Carolina doctors who improperly prescribed
painkillers and bilked insurance companies by ordering unnecessary
medical tests.

However, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
ruled the doctors are entitled to a new sentencing because of a U.S.
Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that struck down mandatory
sentencing guidelines.

Deborah Bordeaux, Ricardo Alerre and Michael D. Jackson were
convicted of drug distribution, drug conspiracy and money-laundering
conspiracy. Bordeaux was sentenced last year to 24 years and four
months, Alerre to 19 years and seven months and Jackson to eight
years and one month.

The physicians worked at the Comprehensive Care and Pain Management
Center in Myrtle Beach. The center was a front for illegally selling
narcotics, including OxyContin, and for carrying out a health care
fraud scheme.

The appeals court rejected the doctors' claim that they were entitled
to a new trial because lawyers on both sides confused the standards
for civil malpractice and criminal liability.

"The jury entered its deliberations armed with ample admissible
evidence and with proper instructions on the applicable legal
principles," Judge Robert King wrote in the unanimous opinion.

The doctors also unsuccessfully argued that evidence of a
money-laundering conspiracy was insufficient.

However, the appeals court said that even the prosecution
acknowledged the defendants were entitled to a new sentencing because
of the Supreme Court's ruling in U.S. v. Booker. In that case, the
court ruled 5-4 that mandatory federal sentencing guidelines violated
a defendant's Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial because they call
for judges to make factual decisions that affect prison time.
Guidelines now are only advisory.