High Court Passes on Pain Clinic Operators’ Conspiracy Question

The US Supreme Court declined on Monday to take up an appeal by a married couple seeking to undo their convictions for drug-distribution conspiracy.

The petition challenged an Eleventh Circuit decision upholding their conspiracy convictions despite incorrect instructions on the underlying drug distribution offense.

As it stands, there’s a circuit split on the issue. Although the Eleventh Circuit’s holding aligns with Fifth Circuit case law, it’s at odds with the Fourth and Tenth circuits, which have said a conspiracy conviction based on a drug-distribution theory requires the jury to be correctly instructed on the elements of the underlying crime.

Petitioners ...