People v. Hofschulz

Defendants, a husband and wife, challenged their convictions for charges related to violations of the Controlled Substances Act, including one count of unlawful drug distribution resulting in the death of a patient, in a scheme where the wife who was a nurse practitioner sold opioid prescriptions for cash-only payments. On appeal, defendants argued that the jury instructions were inconsistent with recent Supreme Court precedent, that the trial court wrongly permitted the government’s medical expert to testify about the standard of care in the usual course of professional pain management, and that there was not sufficient evidence to support a finding of guilty. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, finding that the defendants’ arguments lacked merit and that the trial court’s rulings were consistent with the relevant case law. (ROVNER and KRISCH, concurring)