Pubdate: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 Source: Pensacola News Journal (FL) Copyright: 2002 The Pensacola News Journal Contact: http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1675 Author: Monica Scandlen Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?186 (Oxycontin) GRAVES GETS 63 YEARS Pain Doctor Maintains Innocence In Deaths Dr. James Graves likely will die behind bars, serving a sentence for manslaughter and illegally prescribing narcotics. Circuit Judge Kenneth Bell told Graves, 55, he did not "take lightly" the 63-year prison sentence the judge handed down Friday. Under state law, Graves must serve at least 85 percent, or almost 54 years. "He will never walk free again," Bell said to a hushed courtroom in Milton. The Pace doctor faced 38 to 138 years in prison under Florida sentencing guidelines. Graves, refusing to take responsibility for the deaths of four patients who overdosed and died, showed no reaction. His wife, Alicia, son Jimmy and daughter Jordan sat stone-faced behind him in the first row. Earlier, they pleaded for leniency. "I want to be able to see him outside prison walls again," Jimmy Graves said. "I just want to be able to hug his neck." On Feb. 19, his father became the first doctor in the nation to be convicted of manslaughter for overprescribing a powerful combination of drugs, including OxyContin. Four of his patients overdosed and died. Graves also faces Medicaid fraud charges stemming from his medical practice. Graves fiercely maintains his innocence and, in court, showed no remorse. In a short statement to Bell before the sentence was meted out, Graves recited Bible verses, criticized Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar and verbally attacked the family of Jeffrey Daniels, one of his patients who overdosed. "I know I'm going to have to stand before God one day, and he's going to have to stand before God one day," Graves said of Edgar. "And I pray to God something will change, and somehow he will come to know Christ." Edgar asked Bell to impose a life sentence, calling Graves "morally bankrupt." "He's not upset about what happened to these people; he's upset he got caught," Edgar said during the hearing that lasted nearly three hours. "These sentiments are dangerous in a human being, and these sentiments are dangerous in the community." Graves' family disagreed. They called him a good man and a compassionate doctor. "He's about caring," said Debbie Steiner, Graves' sister, who traveled to Milton for the sentencing. "He's about seeing good in other people." Linda Franklin, another family member, said Graves' son and daughter are fine people. "We are here to stand up for Jim," she said as she implored Bell to give the children "proper, decent and dignified access to their father." Two Dr. Graves Edgar said the portraits of the same man were so different, there seems to be two Dr. Graves. As a physician, Graves was irresponsible and dangerous, Edgar said. "I know when somebody's selling drugs, and that's what he was basically doing," Edgar said. "He wasn't practicing medicine." The prosecutor pointed to Graves' lack of remorse when he learned of patients' deaths in 1999 and 2000 and after his conviction. Testimony at trial showed Graves dismissed some patients' deaths as "just another addict." "He doesn't seem to have a moral gyroscope in him that (his actions were) wrong," Edgar said. Along with four counts of manslaughter, Graves was convicted on one count of racketeering and on five counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance. But defense attorney Ed Ellis countered, as Graves insisted during the six-week trial, that the doctor was properly treating patients' pain. "He believed what he was doing was for legitimate medical purposes," Ellis said. Ellis pointed out to Bell that Graves is overweight and suffers from high blood pressure. A 10- year sentence would be a death sentence, Ellis said. Tension rises Graves, dressed in a light-blue Santa Rosa County Jail prison outfit, spoke to Bell for about 10 minutes. His feet were shackled. "We are people of faith and God," Graves said of himself and his family. After quoting from the book of Hebrews in the New Testament, he added: "Everything I ever did, judge, I did according to these tenets." Graves implied some of the patients who overdosed and died, including Daniels, might have committed suicide. While Graves spoke, Raymond Lester Daniels, Jeffrey's father, grew visibly angry. Later, as Alicia Graves addressed Bell, Daniels started to get up from his seat after the doctor swiveled around, looked at Daniels and smiled. Daniels' wife, Jane, restrained him, and Santa Rosa County sheriff's deputies rushed to Raymond Daniels and ordered him to sit or leave the courtroom. Alicia Graves echoed her husband's contention that authorities should have done more to shut down the pain-management practice in Milton. Testimony at trial showed Graves' office on U.S. 90 was always full of people who waited hours to see the doctor. Sometimes, fights broke out in the parking lot. Dozens of pharmacists testified they stopped filling the doctor's prescriptions, dubbed the "Graves cocktail," because they were concerned about the mixture of medication. Graves generally prescribed OxyContin in two doses as well as Lortab, Xanax and Soma. Four of his patients overdosed and died. "These people would have still been alive if the regulatory agencies had done their jobs," Alicia Graves said. But Bell said he's disturbed by the couple's attitude that "it's not us, it's the world that's wrong." Graves 'an enigma' The judge said even if state agencies had not taken any action, Graves should have known something was wrong. "You knew because family members were calling," Bell said. "You knew because pharmacies were calling." Bell said his father, noted pediatrician Dr. Reed Bell, who is retired, considered pharmacists his friends. However, Graves considered pharmacists as enemies. The judge added: "There was a clarion call placed out there that Dr. Graves should have heard but didn't listen to." After hearing the testimony Friday, Bell said he felt like he was presented with "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma," quoting Winston Churchill. "Fortunately, it is not necessary for this court to solve the underlying riddle," Bell said. At the end of the sentencing, Graves' family and supporters were directed out one exit. Other spectators and witnesses for the prosecution were taken out another. Graves' attorneys promised to appeal the sentence. What's next? Dr. James Graves is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. April 22 on two counts of Medicaid fraud, a felony. Dispensing OxyContin According to testimony Friday, four pharmacies in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties were among the top 100 pharmacies nationwide that dispensed OxyContin in the first half of 2000. There are 58,000 pharmacies in the nation. Those top pharmacies were Montecino's Drugs, Century Pharmacy, Fireside Pharmacy and The Prescription Shop. Timeline Significant dates in the case against Dr. James Graves: September 1998: Graves opens office on U.S. 90 in Milton. March 14, 1999: Patient Anne Carroll, 34, dies of drug overdose. Aug. 25, 1999: Florida Department of Law Enforcement opens investigation. September 1999: Patient Paul Mylock agrees to cooperate with FDLE. Nov. 10, 1999: Jeffrey Daniels, 30, dies of drug overdose. Dec. 21, 1999: Gwen Carpenter, 37, dies of drug overdose. April 12, 2000: Howard Rice, 41, dies of drug overdose. April 13, 2000: Authorities search Graves' office as doctor continues to see patients. June 28, 2000: William Morris, 48, dies of drug overdose. June 29, 2000: Graves indicted by Santa Rosa County grand jury. July 9, 2001: Alabama Medical Licensure Commission revokes Graves' Alabama medical license. Jan. 15, 2002: Graves' trial begins. Jan. 29, 2002: Florida Department of Health issues emergency suspension of Graves' Florida medical license. Feb. 19, 2002: Jury convicts Graves of four counts of manslaughter, five counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance and one count of racketeering. March 7, 2002: Graves talks to ABC television program "Good Morning America" and the Pensacola News Journal. He vows to practice medicine again. March 15, 2002: Graves charged with two counts of Medicaid fraud. March, 21, 2002: Circuit Judge Kenneth Bell denies a defense motion for a new trial. March 22, 2002: Graves sentenced to 63 years in prison. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom