Magistrate - Pharmacist's confession is admissible

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A federal magistrate recommended Tuesday that the confession of a pharmacist accused of diluting chemotherapy drugs for profit should be allowed at his trial.

The ruling is a recommendation which now goes to a federal judge for a final decision.

Attorneys for Robert R. Courtney had argued that he confessed because he thought he was negotiating a plea agreement. Such a confession would not be admissible at trial.

But on Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Robert E. Larsen flatly rejected the idea that Courtney thought he was negotiating a plea agreement when he confessed.

"The evidence is undisputed that no specific plea offer was made," Larsen wrote.

He added that Courtney's attorney "was told on multiple occasions that the government was not interested in negotiating a plea at this stage of the case. The government wanted a fully-admissible confession from Courtney."

Courtney, 49, faces 20 federal charges of diluting, adulterating and misbranding the chemotherapy drugs Gemzar and Taxol. Federal agents have said they believe Courtney also watered-down several other drugs at his Research Medical Tower Pharmacy. Courtney has pleaded innocent.

Federal agents first interviewed Courtney in August, when they raided his pharmacy. According to court documents, they told Courtney they believed the public was at risk, and that he could help by giving a full account of which drugs he had diluted, and to whom they had been given.

In case that didn't motivate Courtney to talk, assistant U.S. Attorney Gene Porter also warned that he could argue at Courtney's eventual sentencing that Courtney had intentionally missed his chance to lessen the harm to patients, according to Larsen's ruling.

Courtney's attorney, J.R. Hobbs, said he would study the ruling for appeal possibilities, but had no other comment.