Erik Medina, 43, of Lubbock accepted a plea agreement concerning his indictment for practicing medicine without a license. He accepted 10 years with deferred adjudication. That means, if he stays out of trouble he will not have to serve the 10 years behind bars.
Deferred adjudication also means if Medina stays out of trouble the court not come to a final finding of guilt.
Medina also agreed to pay a $3,000 fine and perform up to 200 hours of community service as part of the deal.
Medina was charged at about the same time as his father, former City of Lubbock City Attorney Sam Medina. A number of allegations came out concerning several family members at about the same time as Eric Medina’s divorce was nearing completion. Sam Medina denied the allegations and attributed them to bitter divorce proceedings.
Sam Medina resigned from city hall in March of 2014 amid an allegation of sexual assault. The indictment against him was later quashed and never re-filed.
Erik Medina had a state permit as a physician in training but official records said it expired in 2006. Medina was accused of writing prescriptions for family members without a license. A seven-count indictment said the prescriptions were written between June and December of 2013.
Erik Medina’s attorney, Rod Hobson, issued the following statement Thursday afternoon:
At beginning of this case, (January, 2014) I told the press and the community that the charges against Sam Medina were baseless and false. Now after twenty two months, hundreds of legal hours expended, thousands of dollars spent by both by the Medinas and by the Lubbock County taxpayers and not to mention the humiliating publicity and impact on the Medina family the legal cases against the Medinas are finally over.
Out of six defendants related to this investigation, only Erik Medina entered a plea to any of the original charges. Even he was not found guilty but rather agreed to a deferred community supervision, which if he successfully completes means his cases will also be dismissed. One might wonder what, if anything, was accomplished by this malicious, vindictive persecution of Sam Medina and his family and friends.
Indeed, what was the point? The only people that can answer these questions are the original prosecutors (Randall Sims and Jennifer Bassett) who presented each of these cases. The citizens of Lubbock County should demand that those prosecutors are held accountable and forced to answer questions like: What were you thinking? How much did these prosecutions cost Lubbock County? Why did we have to pay so much for so little? How can you justify the time and money spent given the meager results?
On a positive note, the Medinas truly appreciate the way the community has supported them throughout this ordeal and are glad this nightmare is finally over.
