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Court Upholds Conviction In Pain Pill Case

A federal appeals court has upheld the sentence of a Louisiana businessman for distributing pills in eastern Kentucky illegally through pain clinic patients.

A three-judge panel from the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Thursday ruled that 48-year-old Michael Leman of Slidell, Louisiana, had raised no grounds to overturn the conviction.

A jury in Lexington convicted Leman in March 2012 of using pain clinics in three states to distribute oxycodone and methodone to bogus patients in Kentucky's Appalachian region.

The court also upheld an order for 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, Arkansas.