A federal judge on Monday dismissed a motion for acquittal or new trial in the trial of Dr. Angel Serafin Martin, the Newton doctor convicted on 31 counts of health care fraud earlier this year.
During the trial, the prosecution presented evidence and eyewitness testimony from former patients attempting to prove Martin had billed more hours for patient consultations than he had actually worked — sometimes referred to as “up-coding.”
At the trial, 27 of Martin’s former patients testified. Some evidence presented showed that at some points, Martin billed for activities that, when added together, exceeded 24 hours in a day.
After the five-day trial last January, a jury found Martin guilty on 31 counts of health care fraud.
Lawyers for Martin filed the motion for acquittal and new trial on March 5 and after numerous time extensions requested by both the prosecution and defense, the matter finally became fully submitted on July 30.
In the motion, Martin’s attorneys argued that no reasonable jury could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt because government evidence related to health coding systems “likely confused or misled the jury,” and the patients who testified at trial were not credible because they “suffered almost universally from memory and recall problems.”
The judge denied the motion Monday.
“The evidence presented by the government was sufficient to sustain guilty verdicts. Because no miscarriage of justice has occurred, Defendant’s motion for a new trial must also be denied,” Judge James E. Gritzner wrote.
Martin faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.