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Dr. Gosy pleads not guilty to updated indictment charges

Amherst pain specialist Dr. Eugine Gosy plead not guilty to an updated indictment in U.S. District Court, Tuesday afternoon.

Last week, the U.S. District Attorney's Western New York office confirmed that Gosy will face an additional 52 new charges, bringing the total number of counts to 166. The old charges accused Gosy of prescribing millions of prescription pain pills for no legitimate medical purpose in exchange for profit. The new counts allege that Gosy conspired to distribute and dispense narcotics resulting in the death of six patients.

A number of the new charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison.

During Tuesday's court hearing, federal prosecutor Maura O'Donnell requested that Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder change the bail conditions set for Gosy under the original indictment. It stipulated that Gosy could continue to practice medicine under the supervision of other doctors in the practice, but he can't write prescriptions himself.

O'Donnell argued that the new evidence presented with the updated indictment show Gosy is a danger to his patients. But the judge said there were no new reports of violations from supervising physicians or current patients that would warrant this change. After a lengthy and heated back and forth between the two, Schroeder eventually denied the motion.

Defense attorney Joel Daniels requested that the bail conditions be adjusted, as well. His request had to do with the bond amount.

Daniels explained that Dr. Gosy had used his house as collateral to post the $250,000 bond for the original indictment. But Daniels told the judge, Gosy had since sold his home and $250,000 was placed in a trust fund to adhere to the bail conditions.

Daniels claims Dr. Gosy is not a flight risk and he needs access to that money for trial expenses.

Judge Schroeder stated he would not make a decision about this defense request until evidence is presented supporting the motion. He gave the defense until November 28. The prosecution has until December 12 to review that documentation and counter.

A number of other dates and deadlines were set at Tuesday's arraignment. Judge Schroeder gave prosecutors until November 22 to submit evidence for the new charges. He gave the defense until February 16, 2018 to go through this discovery and file their pre-trial motions. The U.S. District Attorney's office will have about a month to respond.

Oral arguments are set to begin on March 19, 2018.

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