JURY TO GET CASE OF DOCTOR ACCUSED OF ILLEGALLY PRESCRIBING DRUGS THAT
CONTRIBUTED TO DEATHS

ROANOKE, Va. -- A jury must decide whether a pain specialist and his
assistant illegally prescribed drugs that contributed to the overdose
deaths of seven people.

Jurors are expected to begin deliberating Wednesday in the case against Dr.
Cecil Byron Knox III, 54, and nurse Beverly Gale Boone, 44. The pair are
charged in a 69-count indictment that includes racketeering, conspiracy,
fraud and drug charges stemming from Knox's practice at Southwest Virginia
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation P.C.

Knox, a former paid speaker for OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, would endear
himself to patients by lavishing them with personal care, witnesses
testified. Instead of the lab coat that many doctors wear, Knox preferred a
bolo tie and cowboy boots.

OxyContin, a brand name for the drug oxycodone, is among the most-abused
prescription medications.

Prosecutors say Knox and Boone ignored evidence that some of the patients
had problems with drug abuse, and that 10 patients either died or were
seriously injured from overdoses shortly after receiving prescriptions.

During the seven-week trial, defense lawyer Tony Anderson argued that the
doctor and his staff may have made mistakes while trying to navigate the
ever-changing health care system. But the intent, he said, always was to
get the best benefits for Knox's patients.

"These people were trying to do it the right way," Anderson said Tuesday at
closing arguments. "This practice is no more a criminal enterprise than any
other organization represented in this room."

In all, Anderson said Knox and his staff received $5,032.85 more than they
should have from overbilling government programs and insurance
companies--an amount that suggests a procedural mistake rather than an
organized attempt at fraud.

Prosecutors described Knox's practice as unprofessional and disorganized, a
"fraternity house, where patients would come and hang out," Assistant U.S.
Attorney Rusty Fitzgerald said.

But the operation was nevertheless lucrative for Knox and his staff,
Fitzgerald said. During a one-year period, Knox wrote 3,332 prescriptions
for OxyContin and charged insurers $1,600,000 for the drugs in a gargantuan
effort at soothing pain that ranked him near the top in the country among
doctors.

Anderson argued Tuesday that prosecutors never proved that injuries to
patients directly resulted from Knox's care. Instead, Anderson said
prosecutors belittled Knox as an eccentric in hopes of turning the jury
against him.

"Over the past seven weeks, there's been a complete and total character
assassination of Dr. Knox," he said.

Closing arguments for the defense were to continue Wednesday before Chief
U.S. District Judge Samuel Wilson hands the case to the jury.