Ohio pharmacist fights drug indictment

COLUMBUS (AP) — An Ohio pharmacist charged with nearly 200 of counts of illegally disbursing prescription painkillers says the government can’t prove its case against him.

Harold Fletcher says there’s no evidence he knew that a physician who wrote painkiller prescriptions didn’t have legitimate reasons.

An attorney for Fletcher says in court filings Wednesday that there’s no evidence Fletcher knew the doctor was anything but a legitimate specialist in chronic pain.

The doctor, Paul Volkman, faces trial next year on charges of helping distribute millions of highly addictive pills that may have led to more than a dozen deaths.

Investigators say Fletcher filled prescriptions for painkillers such as Oxycodone knowing they were not for legitimate medical purposes.