Pharmacist seeks dismissal of charges

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Lawyers for a pharmacist accused of diluting chemotherapy drugs are seeking to have some charges dismissed, contending that prosecutors have failed to state how any cancer patients were harmed.

In a series of motions filed Monday in U.S. District Court, attorneys for Robert Courtney also asked that the trial -- currently scheduled for next Feb. 4 -- be held outside Missouri.

The attorneys said newspapers and broadcast stations throughout the state have made the case "the most widely publicized criminal investigation in Kansas City, and perhaps Missouri, in recent history." And, they said, the coverage has been "particularly inflammatory and prejudicial, serving to create a panicked atmosphere among the local public."

Courtney was indicted Aug. 23 on 20 counts of tampering with, misbranding and adulterating the chemotherapy drugs Gemzar and Taxol prescribed for eight cancer patients.

Prosecutors allege that intravenous solutions Courtney prepared earlier this year at his Research Medical Tower Pharmacy contained far less Gemzar and Taxol than the patients' doctor had ordered on prescriptions.

Courtney has pleaded innocent and remains held without bond on a magistrate's order, even though prosecutors never requested that he be detained.

The defense asked Monday for review of the detention order, asserting that Courtney has close family ties, has never been outside the United States and that the magistrate failed to demonstrate that Courtney was dangerous to the public.

Three of the eight motions filed Monday challenge the eight counts of tampering with a consumer product, partly on the grounds that Congress improperly enacted the statute itself by linking it to interstate commerce.

More pointedly, the defense contends that the tampering charges included in the indictment of Courtney are unconstitutionally vague.

The charge requires a showing that the alleged tampering caused "seriously bodily injury" to some individual, but the indictment fails to state how any of the eight patients suffered injury or a "substantial risk of death," the defense said in a motion.

Federal authorities say Courtney admitted to the FBI that he had diluted the medications, in part because of $600,000 in looming tax bills.