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Lawyers For Pain Clinic Doctor Want Off The Case
By: Associated Press
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Update 3:00 p.m. A Chicago doctor convicted of running a pill mill in southern Ohio is claiming he is innocent and demanding to be released from jail.
Dr. Paul Volkman says his treatment of patients was consistent with actions of a doctor, not a drug dealer.
Volkman on Monday told a federal judge ready to sentence him Tuesday that the most appropriate punishment was immediate release from custody.
Volkman, who is facing 20 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, is now representing himself after firing his attorneys because he says he was strongly dissatisfied with them.
Volkman was convicted last year of causing the deaths of four patients who overdosed on pain pills.
Lawyers for a Chicago doctor convicted of running a pill mill in southern Ohio want off the case, saying the doctor is too unhappy with them to continue.
The request raises questions about Tuesday's sentencing for Dr. Paul Volkman, who faces 20 years in prison for causing the death of four patients who overdosed on pain pills.
Volkman operated out of three locations in Portsmouth and one in Chillicothe before authorities shut him down in 2006.
Volkman's attorneys said in a filing earlier this month the doctor has a strong distrust and dissatisfaction with their work. They say he wants them off the case and plans to represent himself.
Judge Sandra Beckwith has yet to rule on the motion.
Volkman also was convicted of eight other illegal distribution counts that prosecutors said resulted in fatal overdoses but did not leave enough evidence to convict him of the deaths.