Montana MD "Guilty" of Two Dozen Crimes. Still, Judge Doesn't Want a "Doctor"
In the city of Hamilton Doctor Chris Christensen was convicted on a litany of crimes last week by a jury who didn't buy his "I'm a physician and a good person" routine. They were especially peeved when the prosecutor pointed out that the daffy doc had killed two of his patients - Gregg Griffin and Kara Philbrick-Lenker.
Christensen's sentence, in Ravalli County District Court, was as convoluted as his excuses. He received a 20-year prison term from Judge Jeffrey Lanton, but with half of those years "suspended." And until the Montana Supreme Court agrees with the verdict, he doesn't go to jail at all. He gets to go home.
The judge, who has presided over this case since Christensen was first arrested for narcotic drug-pushing in 2014, said he does not believe the wacky MD is a danger to the community.
He told the court he was "reluctant to place Christensen with other inmates, considering the types of people that are in there."
Of course. Why would you put a killer drug-pusher behind bars with other criminals?
The doctor, age 68, was convicted on 9 counts of Patient Endangerment, 11 counts of Drug Distribution and 2 counts of Negligent Homicide. That's quite a rap sheet.
Judge Langton acknowledged that Christensen had a history of routinely prescribing “extremely shocking levels of opiates.”
But he still hates to think of this lab coat loon in jail. How fair is that? It's not like he's a common . . . you know . . . criminal, All he did - when you think about it - was sell addictive drugs and kill some people. Geez.