THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 11, 1994 TAG: 9412110056
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOE JACKSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated the 30-month sentence of a Norfolk physician considered a sociopath by some of his colleagues.
The court ruled that a federal judge erred when sentencing the doctor to fewer months than called for in guidelines.
On Sept. 27, 1993, U.S. District Court Judge Henry C. Morgan Jr. sentenced Dr. William Wright Jr. to 2 1/2 years in federal prison for illegally selling prescriptions for narcotics to a drug addict.
Wright should have been sentenced within a 51-to-63 month range, the federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
Wright's case has been sent back to federal court. No sentencing date has yet been scheduled, court officials said on Friday.
Wright, a 40-year-old general practitioner who lived in Chesapeake and had an office at 555 Fenchurch St., pleaded guilty in July 1993 to 22 counts of selling bogus prescriptions. He admitted selling 42 prescriptions to the drug addict for $2,215 during eight office visits in early 1992.
Medical and law enforcement authorities had known since early 1992 that Wright had abused, abandoned and mistreated patients. Wright lost his medical privileges at two Norfolk hospitals, but the state Board of Medicine didn't suspend his license until after his guilty plea.
When Morgan sentenced Wright, he acknowledged that he was ``departing downward'' from federal sentencing guidelines but said he was granting a more lenient sentence based on the ``cumulative impact'' of several factors, court records show.
Morgan said then that he was departing from the guidelines because Wright suffered ``collateral punishment'' in the suspension of his medical license; the doctor bore ``the considerable burden of caring for his family'' and suffered stress while trying to establish himself locally; Wright had no prior criminal history; he did not rely on the proceeds of the illegal prescription sales; and he had made positive contributions to the community.
For these reasons, Morgan wrote, the doctor was entitled to ``extra consideration.'' Soon after, the U.S. Attorney's office appealed.
The federal appeals court ruled, however, that Morgan's reasons did not justify the departure from guidelines.
Since 1991, Wright had been accused of or admitted to abandoning at least four patients, abandoning a woman in labor after arguing with her husband in the delivery room, and leaving a psychotic patient to attend a baseball game.
Wright's attorney said that alcoholism was at the root of the doctor's problems.
Judge Morgan said alcoholism alone was not reason enough to depart from the guidelines, but then cited the other factors as reason for handing out a lighter punishment.
Federal judges across the country have criticized sentencing guidelines as being too harsh and unrealistic, especially concerning drug convictions. For this reason, at least one judge has refused to hear drug cases, news reports show.
KEYWORDS: DRUGS PRESCRIPTION MALPRACTICE TRIAL
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