Convicted Lebanese cancer doctor Farid Fata claims he was pressured into pleading guilty to misdiagnosing people with cancer, new court documents show.
Fata was sentenced to 45 years in prison in 2014 for prescribing chemotherapy to patients who were perfectly healthy or whose conditions did not require the treatment.
The disgraced doctor is now asking a federal judge to throw out his 2014 conviction and grant him a new trial.
Fata claims his attorney convinced him to plead guilty for a possible lesser sentence. He alleges his attorney said he could get 20 years as opposed to life in prison if he entered the guilty plea.
“(My attorney) enforced the idea of pleading guilty by leading me to believe that I would receive leniency by entering guilty pleas,” Fata wrote. “From day one to the present, I have steadfastly maintained my innocence. And I maintain that I only agreed to plead guilty in this case due to (my attorney’s) false promises and misadvice.”
COURT DOCUMENTS: Fata seeks new trial
The new documents come four years after Fata stood before the court and sobbed in response to the sentencing.
“I stand before you ashamed of my actions. It all went wrong,” Fata said in court.” I cannot bring back the past.”
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Former patients referred to him as a ‘cowardly bastard’ as he sat expressionless for days watching victims take the stand during sentencing.
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The U.S. Attorney’s Office has not yet filed a response to Fata’s request.