Brigham City doctor’s prison sentence reduced

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – A federal judge has reduced the sentence of a Brigham City doctor convicted of illegally prescribing prescription drugs to patients.

Dewey MacKay could be free as early as this year after he was resentenced to three years in prison under an order issued Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Dee Benson.

Benson originally sentenced the 66-year-old MacKay to 20 years after a jury found him guilty in 2011 of illegally distributing painkillers. MacKay also was convicted in the drug overdose death of one of his patients.

MacKay appealed but later rulings by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. Supreme Court sent the case back to Benson for resentencing.

Benson ruled the mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years for the patient’s death was no longer required after the Supreme Court ruling and a lighter sentence could be issued.

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