NO CONVICTIONS AGAINST PHYSICIAN

Accusations Against Pain Doctor End in Not Guilty Verdicts and Indecision

ROANOKE - Federal prosecutors failed to win a single conviction
yesterday against a Roanoke doctor they had accused of illegally
prescribing medicine that contributed to the deaths of seven patients.

After a seven-week trial and more than a week of deliberating in U.S.
District Court, a jury found Dr. Cecil Knox not guilty of about 30 of
the 69 charges against him. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on
the remaining counts, prompting Chief U.S. District Judge Samuel
Wilson to declare a mistrial.

Though Knox could face retrial on those remaining counts - three of
which charge him with contributing to patients' death or serious
bodily injury - he left the courtroom at 6:15 p.m. yesterday crying
tears of joy.

"Right now, there is no anxiety," said a tearful Knox, 54. "I feel
very good and very positive about the future. I think I'm going to be
back, my practice will be back."

"I just want to savor the moment," said Knox's wife, Donna, as she
dabbed tears from her eyes. "I'm just thankful. It's been a long time
filled with fear and anxiety, and now it's over."

In seven weeks of testimony, prosecutors alleged that Knox ran a "pill
mill" from his office on Roanoke's Second Street, handing
prescriptions for powerful drugs like OxyContin and methadone to known
addicts and others who came to see him with stories of severe pain.
Knox's eagerness to prescribe potent drugs contributed to the deaths
of seven patients, prosecutors alleged.

In one year alone, Knox wrote prescriptions for $1.6 million worth of
OxyContin, according to testimony, becoming the 19th leading
prescriber of the drug in the nation.

Yesterday, prosecutors hurriedly left the courthouse after the verdict
was announced, mostly avoiding the swarm of reporters who had gathered
in the lobby. Assistant U.S. Attorney C. Patrick Hogeboom III, who
helped prosecute the case, declined to comment.

While the two dozen Knox supporters in the courtroom greeted the
verdicts with cries of elation, others were surprised and
disappointed. They left the courtroom in tears.

"I'm stunned, just stunned," said a weeping Tammy Akers, clutching a
photo of her brother Tracy's grave. Tracy Akers, paralyzed from the
neck down from gunshot wounds, was one of the patients who died after
being heavily medicated by Knox.

Defense attorneys Tony Anderson and John Lichtenstein left the
courthouse asserting that the not-guilty verdicts were a vindication
of Knox and his treatment methods. During the trial, they portrayed
him as a compassionate and caring doctor who, though unorthodox in his
sandals and long hair, dealt with patients in such severe pain that
other doctors wouldn't treat them.

Anderson said he couldn't say much about the verdicts until he
examines more closely which of the many charges against Knox could be
retried. He said he's still not sure of which charges Knox has been
exonerated.

"I was trying to write them down" as the court clerk read off the
verdicts, he said, "but I was emotional."

Knox had been charged with 50 drug-related charges, as well as 19
fraud, racketeering and conspiracy charges related to his billing
practices. His office manager, Beverly Gale Boone, faced the same
charges. The jury found her not guilty of more than 60 charges and was
unable to reach a verdict on the remaining charges.

A third defendant, Willard Newbill James Jr., a professional counselor
accused of paying kickbacks to Knox in exchange for patient referrals,
had faced five fraud-related charges. Jurors were unable to reach a
verdict on any of those charges.

A federal grand jury indicted Knox in October 2002. Judge Wilson
temporarily postponed the trial in December, as Knox underwent
treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Yesterday, surrounded by his wife and children, Knox said he hopes to
reopen his medical practice, but has other business to attend to
first. "The first thing is to get my health back," he said, "and spend
more time with my family."