Important developments in an effort to shut down the so-called pill pipeline between Kentucky and other southern states.
A federal appeals court is set to hear the appeal of a Louisiana businessman serving 15 years in federal prison for distributing oxycodone and methadone illegally through pain clinics in eastern Kentucky.
A three-judge panel from the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati will take up the case of 48-year-old Michael Leman of Slidell, La. A jury in Lexington convicted Leman in March 2012 of using pain clinics in Kentucky's Appalachian region to distribute medications to bogus patients. The hearing is scheduled for June 19.
A judge also ordered Leman to pay $1 million in restitution to an agency handling crime victim compensation and one dealing with substance abuse.
Leman is housed at Forrest City Correctional Complex in Forrest City, Ark.