NECC Defendant Seeks Acquittal

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A pharmacist found guilty of violating a federal drug law is asking the presiding judge to act in the place of a missing juror and acquit her of the charges on which she was convicted.
In a 17-page filing by her attorney, Michael Bourbeau, Michelle Thomas argued that allowing her conviction to stand "would result in a miscarriage of justice."
Thomas and Kathy Chin, both former employees of the New England Compounding Center, were found guilty of violations of the Food Drug and Cosmetic when they approved for shipment prescription drugs for clearly fraudulent patients. The two were also convicted of doing so with the intent to defraud or mislead, a felony.
The unanimous verdict was reached by an 11 member jury after a four day trial. The 12th juror was dismissed at the last minute after he disclosed he knew an investigator from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration who testified extensively for the prosecution.
In her motion Thomas asked U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to "act as the 12th juror" and acquit her of the charges or grant her a new trial.
Chin and Thomas were employees of the now defunct drug compounding firm blamed for the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak which ultimately killed over 100 patients. The charges against the two so-called conforming pharmacists did not involve the drugs that caused the outbreak.
They were charged with approving for shipment drugs prescribed for obviously fictitious patients like Filet O Fish.
Thomas, in her filing, noted that she had only been working for NECC for a week when the first charged prescription was filled.
Bourbeau also argued that there was no evidence to support the charge that his client had any knowledge of a longtime NECC practice of issuing drugs without valid prescriptions.
"No evidence was presented that she even had knowledge of the regulations that were required for this compounding center," the motion states.
The government, the motion continues, did not present any evidence that Ms. Thomas, specifically and willfully intended to defraud and mislead the FDA."
Thomas and Chin were among 14 persons indicted in 2014 following a two year probe of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak. They were the last to go on trial. The guilty verdicts were returned May 2 following barely two hours of deliberation.
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