Imprisoned drug

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former Kansas City-area pharmacist who has been incarcerated for more than two decades in a profit-boosting scheme to dilute tens of thousands of prescriptions for seriously ill patients is being moved to a halfway house this summer, an attorney for the victims said Tuesday.

Victims of Robert Courtney are outraged and demanding new charges, said Mike Ketchmark, an attorney whose office was involved in more than 275 wrongful death lawsuits against Courtney.

Ketchmark said he has gotten close to 100 calls since Courtney’s victims began receiving emails from the Department of Justice about the plan to transfer the 71-year-old to a Springfield, Missouri, facility in June. Ketchmark forwarded one of the emails to The Associated Press.

“His victims don’t believe that ... he should ever walk free again, and (think) that he ought to be charged under state law with murder, and ought to be held accountable,” he said. “And we are calling upon the Jackson County prosecutor’s office to do just that.”