Sentence for four OxyContin deaths

Fla. doctor gets 63 years for manslaughter in overdose cases

ASSOCIATED PRESS

MILTON, Fla., March 22 — A doctor convicted of manslaughter in the deaths of four patients who overdosed on the painkiller OxyContin was sentenced to nearly 63 years in prison Friday. Dr. James Graves, 55, was the nation’s first doctor to be found guilty of manslaughter or murder in an OxyContin death.

Graves remained defiant, telling the prosecutor that one day both of them would have to “stand before God.”

“I pray to God something will change and somehow he will come to know Christ,” he told Circuit Judge Kenneth Bell.

Prosecutors said Graves ran a “pill mill” that dispensed the powerful painkiller to addicts and dealers.

A jury found Graves guilty last month of manslaughter, unlawful delivery of a controlled substance and racketeering. The judge said state guidelines called for a sentence of nearly 39 years to 138 years.

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