Sunday, April 29, 2012
A federal judge rejected claims from a former Kansas doctor who claims his lawyer pressured him into pleading guilty to unlawfully prescribing painkillers to a woman he never met.
U.S. District Judge Monti Belot on Friday rebuffed a move by Lawrence Simons, of Goddard, to toss out the conviction that sent him to federal prison for two years. Simons was challenging a restriction that prohibits him from practicing medicine during the three years of his supervised release.
In a scathing 33-page decision, Belot said it is readily apparent Simons either lied to the court during his plea and sentencing hearings, or in his own submissions and testimony at an evidentiary hearing in February over the matter.
The judge said Simons' testimony alone should be sufficient to justify the denial.
