Posts Tagged With: vindictive prosecution

Responding to what doctors and patients are calling a dangerous crackdown on people with chronic pain, [Pain Relief Network][prn] is seeking the protection of the courts, hoping to have the deadly disease of chronic pain declared a disability under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

“Ms. Treadway’s conduct in the case has been nothing short of shocking and ruthless; she has in fact displayed the kind of ‘win at all costs’ mentality that you have publicly stated your department will no longer tolerate,” Reynolds wrote in her June 18 letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder… The ACLU has taken up the Reynolds defense in the grand jury proceedings, claiming in initial court papers that subpoenas sought by a “frustrated prosecutor seeking to silence a dissenting advocate” have a chilling effect on First Amendment rights.

These subpoenas constitute an abuse of the grand jury process… Because [Treadway's obstruction of justice] investigation lacks any good faith basis, Ms. Reynolds does not claim a Fifth Amendment privilege with respect to any of the materials sought by the subpoena.(1) Ms. Reynolds maintains that she has committed no crime and that there is nothing in the requested materials that could inculpate her in the obstruction of justice, witness tampering or jury tampering. For all of these reasons, this Court should quash the March 10 subpoenas issued to Siobhan Reynolds and PRN.

AUSA Treadway wants to drag Ms. Reynolds before a Grand Jury for, get this, obstruction of justice! in the case of U.S. v Dr. Schneider. If we were not talking about the mockery of American justice Bush appointees routinely make in cases like Schneider and Shaygan this would be really funny. Siobhan Reynolds is obstructing justice? Utter nonsense. It is prosecutor Treadway for the USA who, if not obstructing justice in this case, is surely doing everything she can to delay it.

Review of the outcome of the Shaygan Govt Misconduct hearings in which Dr. Shaygan’s Govt. Prosecutors concede to witness tampering and violation of discovery obligations to the defense, amongst other offenses. Link to PDF of Govt’s Response brief to Shaygan’s Motions for Sanctions.

Article from PascoTribune, including video interview of Paey, about Paey’s readjustment to live out of prison as a pardoned chronic pain patient. Permalink:

Dr. Schneider’s pretrial motions to dismiss on constitutional grounds, and his motions for abstention have been filed, as has the Government’s opposition to those motions, and Dr. Schneider’s response to the Government’s opposition. As I understand it, now we wait for rulings by the Judge. The relevant briefs, and the Order releasing Dr. Schneider on bond and setting conditions on that release, are linked to, below.

When prosecutors want to convict a doctor of “drug dealing,” they often sow suspicions by alerting the media. But in a Kansas case, they appear to be fighting dirty by trying to prevent the other side from speaking out. [...]

AP news item, begins: “Federal prosecutors asked a federal judge Friday to issue a gag order to silence a Haysville physician and his wife indicted for operating a “pill mill” linked to at least 56 overdose deaths. In court papers, the U.S. attorney’s office asked for a restraining order to keep physician Stephen Schneider and his wife, Linda, from talking to the media. Prosecutors also asked that the judge extend that order to include the Schneiders’ family members and Siobhan Reynolds, president of the Pain Relief Network, a patient advocacy group.” [...]

Associated Press story about pressure being put on the Pain Relief Network, it’s president, Siobhan Reynolds, because of PRN’s involvement in helping the abandoned pain patients of Dr. Schneider which has interfered with Kansas AG Tanya Treadway drug war prosecution of that physician.

Well, I guess [PRN has] hit a nerve, huh? I had to read todays AP article (linked to) three times to figure out what good ‘ole Tanya Treadway, federal prosecutor, thinks we did wrong here. I mean, it is clear that she is angry, and clearly wanted the opportunity to call Siobhan and the Schneiders\’s names and get all the usual buzzwords in the paper – “parasitic”, “pill mill” – but I think this is the beef [...]

AP article about vague and silly allegations by federal prosecutor Tonya Treadway against Siobhan Reynolds, president of the Pain Relief Network. Reynolds said, “There is nothing wrong, unethical, illegal, immoral about any of this. … This is an attack on my fundamental liberty to do our work,” Reynolds told The Associated Press. “I’ve developed some opinions after 15 cases of seeing innocent doctors going to prison for doing absolutely nothing but practicing medicine.”

Associated Press article about injunction filed in State Court by the patients of the federally indicted Dr. Schneider; judge to hear PRN’s Temporary Restraining Order, Friday Feb. 29, 2008.

Article from Yakima Herald Journal (Washington state) about Dr. Rosa Martinez who was found not guilty of drug charges in Federal prosecution in December 2007; Dr. Martinez continues to fight for her professional life, and for her patients.

Blog post of Associated Press article uncovering evidence of civil malpractice attorneys circling Dr. Schneider like sharks have been working closely with federal prosecutors in their criminal indictment of Dr. Schneider. Yes, it’s all as sleazy as it seems.

AP story about pain patient of indicted Dr. Schneider being unable to find ANY medical care – they have been completely abandonded. This is the chilling effect. This is opiophobia. THIS IS WRONG, AMERICA.

Blog post about Utah AG Brett Tolman, who has indicted several pain doctors as drug dealers, including Dr. Warren Stack, and now Dr. Ray Taylor, whose Initial Media Smear is just now beginning. Prosecutor Tolman has discovered what AG Tom Corbett (Pennsylvania) already knows very well: shooting doctors caught in the Controlled Substances Act barrel is just too easy, too profitable, too fun to forgo.

News item: “A key government witness [Jennifer Riggle] was sentenced Thursday to six months in prison for repeatedly violating her probation conditions. Riggle’s probation was revoked for shoplifting and failing three drug tests. [She] originally avoided prison by testifying against Dr. Rottschaefer, a former Oakmont doctor convicted in March 2004 on 153 counts of illegally prescribing painkillers.” Now: RELEASE DR. ROTTSHAEFER, victim of an OBVIOUSLY vindictive prosecution by the notoriously politically ambitious and self-absorbed U.S. Attorney, Mary Beth Buchanan!

Dr. Paul Heberle’s notes from which he testified at Dr. Mangino\’s sentencing hearing, September 2007.

Pain relief activist Christine Heberle on the bond hearing of Dr. William Mangino, Newcastle, PA, 2007-09-14. Excerpt: “First let me say for those unfamiliar with the case that this is truly a crime-less conviction. He was charged with the typical state charges of prescribing outside the bounds of a responsible segment of the medical community. Now I know that is not what the statute says, but it is how the prosecution phrases it. The prosecutions expert witness (Dr. Evanko) said that Dr. Mangino’s prescribing was not excessive, and the charts reviewed were of chronic pain patients who needed care. In …