The Pain Relief Network

Apr 17, 2008
By: Roxana Hegeman
The Associated Press

WICHITA, Kan. — An embattled Kansas physician charged with running a "pill mill" that led to 56 deaths told a federal judge in court papers Thursday that he and his wife were not afraid of the truth and are opposed to the government's request for a gag order in their case.

Federal prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Monti Belot earlier this month to prevent Dr. Stephen Schneider and his wife, Linda, from talking to the media.

Prosecutors also asked the judge to extend that gag order to include their attorneys, family members and Siobhan Reynolds, president of the Pain Relief Network, a patient advocacy group that has taken up the Schneiders' cause.

"The government's attempt to restrain contact with the media comes as a result of the media's coverage becoming balanced and raising questions about the government's motivations, its actions, and the results of those actions," according to a defense motion filed Thursday.

Prosecutors told the judge that the defendants and their supporters were attempting to use the media to influence the jury pool. As an alternative to a gag order, the government sought a transfer of the trial, scheduled for February 2009, to eliminate the possibility of jurors being prejudiced by publicity the case is getting in the Wichita media.

Federal prosecutors also asked the judge to admonish defense attorneys on professional rules of conduct regarding public statements. They also want to limit the contact Reynolds and family members have with witnesses in the case.

The Haysville physician and his wife were arrested on a 34-count indictment alleging conspiracy, unlawful distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death, health care fraud, illegal money transactions and money laundering.

Prosecutors asked for the gag order three days after The Associated Press obtained a recorded statement in which the jailed doctor said he thought he was doing a public service at the clinic because chronic pain patients did not have many choices of where to go. Schneider said even fewer doctors are now willing to write prescriptions for narcotics after seeing his prosecution.

"I am totally innocent of all those charges and I can't wait to be before a jury and show them the real evidence," Stephen Schneider said in the recording given to the AP by defense attorney Lawrence Williamson.

The government asked the court to order Williamson to give prosecutors the recorded statement that was turned over to the AP. Williamson told the court Thursday that he did not have a copy of it.

In January, the doctor and his wife were put into solitary confinement for several days after Linda Schneider attempted to talk to a television reporter who had been interviewing her sister, Pat Hatcher, when she called.

In opposing the gag order, Williamson noted the government itself issued a news release when the indictment was unsealed.

Prosecutors also called a news conference in December to announce the indictment. They have subsequently alerted reporters through their media e-mail distribution list when the government files motions in the Schneider case, but have declined to talk about the prosecution since then.

Defense attorneys called the government filings inflammatory, noting the indictment stated the doctor "was a butcher" and described his medical clinic as a "pill mill." They noted in the pretrial coverage that most stories recite filings made by the prosecution with a small quote from the defense side.

The indictment alleges the Schneiders directly caused four deaths and contributed to the deaths of 11 other patients. In all, the indictment links the clinic to the accidental overdose deaths of 56 patients.

"Apparently, having become dissatisfied with the emergence of certain facts, the government now seeks to repress the reporting of the truth," according to the defense motion. "The defendants are not afraid of the truth, and oppose the government's request for a gag order."

Defense attorneys also argued that Reynolds – a political activist who founded the Pain Relief Network in 2003 – is not a "proxy" for the defendants, nor a promoter of public suicides as the government contended in its efforts to ban her from speaking to the media.

They argued that regardless of whether the court agrees with the group's mission, Reynolds has freedom of expression and association.