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The Utah Supreme Court has thrown out a jury's $3 million verdict against a former Layton doctor in a wrongful death lawsuit, ruling that evidence of the physician's felony drug conviction in an unrelated case should not have been admitted at trial.

In a 4-1 decision issued Tuesday, the court said the "prejudicial impact" of Paul Ray Taylor's conviction undermines its confidence in the jury's decision. Taylor was accused of causing the death of patient Brad Robinson, who was being treated for chronic back pain and degenerative disc disease. He died in May 2006 of acute methadone toxicity.

"The specific details of Mr. Robinson's death and drug consumption behavior are largely unknown, and without the admission of Dr. Taylor's prior criminal conviction, there is a reasonable likelihood of a more favorable result for Dr. Taylor," Justice Jill Parrish wrote for the majority.

The high court's ruling sends Taylor's case back to the district court for a new civil trial.

In his dissent, Associate Chief Justice Thomas Lee said Taylor's credibility was a key issue and that he could "see no way to presume that the jury misused probative evidence of credibility to draw unfair inferences against him."

Robinson's adult children filed their civil lawsuit in 2009, claiming in 2nd District Court that Taylor had prescribed an unreasonable dose of methadone to their father, which led to his death. In response, Taylor argued he had given special dosing instructions which directed Robinson to initially take less than the prescribed amount, and go up to that dosage only if the lower amount was insufficient.

After Robinson's death but before the lawsuit went to trial, a federal grand jury charged Taylor with illegally distributing a controlled substance, after he repeatedly met a man in a parking lot to give him prescriptions in exchange for cash.

Taylor, who ultimately surrendered his licenses to practice medicine, later pleaded guilty in Salt Lake City's U.S. District Court to one felony count and was ordered to serve 85 months in federal prison. Because of the sentence, he was unable to attend the trial on the Robinson lawsuit and a previously recorded deposition was read to the jury.

The former doctor was released in December, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.

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