Venue change tabled for doctor’s trial
Lonnie Parker accused of running a pill mill
TEXARKANA, Arkansas — Lawyers defending a Texarkana doctor accused of running a pill mill here asked the judge to table a motion to change the location of the trial during a hearing Thursday in federal court.
The hearing in the case of Lonnie Joseph Parker was conducted virtually Thursday before U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey because of the pandemic. Parker’s defense lawyers, Jeff Rosenzweig and John Wesley Hall, both of Little Rock, backed off a request to change venue for the trial.
“If you could hold it in abeyance. It certainly wasn’t premature when we filed it but with the new court date a half a year, seven months away, it may have reverted to premature status,” Rosenzweig said.
Rosenzweig noted delays in the trial setting caused by the pandemic. He said that if continued media coverage of Parker’s case causes concern for the defense team about being able to choose a fair and impartial jury, he may raise the issue again when the Aug. 16 date for jury selection is nearer.
Hickey granted an oral motion to withdraw the venue motion.
“The next issue is evidence and whether it will be presented at your trial,” Hickey said.
Hickey said there are three categories of evidence the government is seeking to admit at Parker’s trial. The first involves the patients referenced in each of the nine counts of a superseding indictment which accuses Parker of overprescribing drugs of abuse including opioids, benzodiazepines and promethazine-containing cough syrup.
Rosenzweig conceded that testimony and evidence related to the specific charges against Parker are admissible though he vowed to defend Parker against each one. The government intends to elicit testimony from four former patients who are not named in Parker’s indictment.
A notice filed last week by the government argues the testimony is necessary to show Parker was operating a pill mill and lists “common characteristics” of pill mills which the testimony of the patients the government intends to show were also characteristics of Parker’s clinic. The notice lists pill mill characteristics and then reviews the expected testimony of each “patient witness.”
Rosenzweig said the defense needs more time to review the government’s notice and formulate objections. Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Gardner said the information outlined in the government’s Jan. 15 notice is not new to the defense as it was included in discovery provided more than a year ago.
Parker was first arrested in October 2019. He has been free on an unsecured appearance bond since a hearing a few days later and formally indicted later that month. A superseding indictment, modifying language in the indictment, was handed down last year. Parker has pleaded not guilty to all nine counts.
Hickey agreed to give the defense time to lodge a response to the government’s notice concerning the patient witnesses setting a Feb. 11 deadline. Hickey told the parties she would rule quickly on the issue.
The final category of evidence discussed concerns an expert witness for the government. Gardner said she expects the expert to complete a final report including an analysis of Parker’s medical practice by mid-February. The expert is expected to give testimony about how Parker’s medical practice compares with others.
Hickey said the defense will have two weeks to file objections to the expert’s report after it is provided to them by the government.
A press statement issued at the time of Parker’s arrest by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Arkansas notes an investigation by the D.E.A. into Parker began in 2018 following complaints from law enforcement that included the possible overdose death of a patient.
The case is currently scheduled for jury selection Aug. 16 in Texarkana’s downtown federal building.