The executives face up to a year in prison. In hearings this week, U.S. District Judge Legrome D. Davis is being asked to set sentencing guidelines.
Hoffinger and most of the eight defense attorneys at the front tables in Davis' courtroom Monday were from law firms in Washington. At one point, one of the D.C. lawyers tried to submit evidence and begin discussing it.
Davis gently scolded the lawyer and asked, "Are you all from Washington?" Catherine M. Recker, a member of the legal team for defendant Michael D. Huggins and the lone local lawyer among the eight, stood briefly, if only to signal that the local legal establishment was represented.
Davis will eventually sentence Huggins, of West Chester; Higgins, of Berwyn; Richard E. Bohner, of Malvern; and John J. Walsh, of Coatesville. In court the four sat quietly, and whispered occasionally with their lawyers.
Synthes and Norian Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, pleaded guilty to charges related to introducing adulterated and misbranded bone cements into interstate commerce and paid fines totaling $23.6 million. Synthes sold Norian to comply with the plea, selling the assets May 24 to Kensey Nash Inc., of Exton, for $22 million. Earlier, in late April, Johnson & Johnson agreed to buy Synthes for $21.3 billion.
The four former executives pleaded guilty in 2009 to one misdemeanor count each for their parts in the scheme to market Norian for off-label use on spines in their roles as corporate officers with the responsibility to prevent such violations. Three patients died over 13 months in 2003 and 2004.
Pharmaceutical executives rarely get prison time for corporate crimes. The responsible-corporate-officer doctrine was born of two Supreme Court cases that said an executive could be found guilty if illegal activity happened on his or her watch and he or she should have known about it, or failed to stop the activity once becoming aware of it.
