DOCTOR FACES 165 YEARS IN DRUG- DEATHS CONVICTION

Dr. James F. Graves is scheduled to be sentenced to prison on March 19 in
the drug-overdose deaths of four patients.

Circuit Judge Kenneth Bell on Wednesday set a hearing for 1 p.m. on the
third Tuesday in March to mete out the punishment that the convicted Pace
physician faces on four counts of manslaughter, five counts of unlawful
delivery of a controlled substance and one charge of racketeering. A Santa
Rosa County Circuit Court jury convicted Graves on Tuesday.

Graves faces up to 165 years in prison, if Bell administers the maximum
sentence for each charge.

"I'm going to ask for a lengthy prison sentence," said Assistant State
Attorney Russ Edgar, who prosecuted the case.

Graves' court-appointed attorneys promised to appeal the conviction but
declined to comment Wednesday.

Some Santa Rosa residents are not surprised the doctor was convicted.

"He got exactly what he deserved," said Barbara Peaden, 59, owner of a
Milton beauty shop. "I just didn't see how the jury could come up with
anything different. I think that most people in the area think the same way.

"We just don't need a doctor like that around here."

Graves, 55, was found guilty of overprescribing OxyContin and other potent
narcotics to patients, including the four who died.

Peaden said before Graves was arrested, word had spread about the doctor
prescribing powerful drugs. She considered talking to the State Attorney's
Office about the matter but never did. When it was learned that authorities
arrested Graves, Peaden said a sense of relief passed over people who were
concerned.

"They were glad he was finally caught," she said. "These kids get hooked on
enough stuff without people giving it to them."

Betty Calabro owns a restaurant next to the courthouse where jurors in the
case occasionally ate lunch.

"I'm not surprised with a guilty verdict," Calabro said.

No one was allowed to talk about the case with the panel, and court
employees were careful to avoid the topic during their lunch breaks when
members of the jury were around.

Others who viewed the trial, or those waiting on witnesses scheduled to
testify, would stop by the eatery. But no one would talk in great detail
about the trial, Calabro said.

"It's an individual's responsibility to question if what the doctor is
prescribing is best or not," Calabro said. "We all have a sense of if
something sounds right or it doesn't. But, at the same time, the doctor has
a responsibility."

A jury of four men and two women convicted Graves. Five alternates also
were chosen.

"I think the prosecutor did a great job," said Rocky Sasse, 45, an
alternate juror who heard all the testimony before Bell released him before
jury deliberations. It took the jury about 4 hours to reach a verdict.

Sasse said defense witnesses helped bolster the prosecution's case.

"I think the defense witnesses did a great job for the prosecution," he said.

Sasse also felt Graves did not help himself by taking the stand.

"He all of a sudden became absent-minded (during Edgar's questioning),"
Sasse said. "I think he hurt himself, especially the way he sat there and
smiled.

"It irritated me."

It also irritated Alice Ward, 55, whose husband is a former Graves patient.

"I thought it was pathetic" the way Graves was "grinning like a Cheshire
cat at the jury," said Ward, who attended much of the trial.

But Ward said the trial and verdict have given her closure and she is ready
to move on with her life, after having lived with an addict for several months.

The six-week trial likely will be the most expensive in Santa Rosa County
history. The county attorney's office next week expects to have a final
tally of the cost. Before the trial began Jan. 14, the cost had already
neared $200,000 for the case.

Santa Rosa County Attorney Tom Dannheisser raised concerns with a judge in
September about the amount of money - $60,000 - the defense had spent.
Graves was represented by Ed Ellis and Michael Gibson, two private lawyers
appointed by the court because Graves declared he couldn't afford to hire
an attorney.

Public defender Jack Behr said his office could not represent Graves
because they represent many of the state's witnesses in other cases. When
there is such a conflict, the public defender's office contracts with
private attorneys, Behr said.

"I hate it, because I think he (Graves) is lying when he says he doesn't
have any money," said Peaden. "And I have to pay for his trial."