Brigham City doctor avoids more prison in pain pill case

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld a decision to reduce the sentence of a Brigham City doctor convicted of illegally prescribing painkillers to patients.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided Wednesday that a reduced three-year sentence was appropriate for Dewey MacKay, who served the time and was released last year.

Federal prosecutors had asked the court to reinstate MacKay’s original, 20-year sentence and return him to prison.

A jury found him guilty in 2011 of illegally distributing prescription drugs, including to one man who died.

MacKay appealed and the appeals court sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Dee Benson, who tossed out the mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years for the patient’s death was no longer required after a Supreme Court ruling.

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