On Monday, May 19, 2025, PennLive reported that a U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals panel rejected a motion by former Pennsylvania doctor Raymond J. Kraynak to remove U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann from his case.
Kraynak, a 67-year-old former physician from Mount Carmel, also sought a change of venue, appointment of new legal counsel, and an expedited hearing to withdraw his guilty plea, but the panel denied all requests.
Kraynak, once labeled a “pill mill” doctor, was indicted in 2017 for prescribing over six million opioid doses over a five-year period. In September 2021, after the prosecution rested its case, Kraynak pleaded guilty to 12 counts of prescribing drugs outside standard medical practice. Had he been convicted on all charges, including five counts linked to patient deaths, he faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 100 years, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney William A. Behe.
In February 2022, weeks before his scheduled sentencing, Kraynak attempted to withdraw his plea, claiming innocence and alleging that his former attorneys, assistant public defenders Thomas Thorton and Gerald Lord, provided poor advice that led to his guilty plea.
Judge Brann permitted Thorton and Lord to withdraw and appointed Carlisle attorney Stephanie L. Cesare to represent Kraynak. However, Brann denied the plea withdrawal, and on August 3, 2022, sentenced Kraynak to 15 years in prison as stipulated in the plea agreement.
Kraynak’s appeal centered on accusations that Brann should be recused due to alleged bias, claiming the court reporter, with Brann’s knowledge, redacted parts of the August 2022 hearing transcript. He demanded the production of an unredacted transcript and a referral of the issue to federal law enforcement. The appeals panel found no evidence to support Kraynak’s claims of bias, stating that his petition lacked factual backing to justify Brann’s recusal.
In his self-represented appeal, Kraynak also criticized Cesare’s performance, arguing she failed to challenge a government expert who reviewed his patient files and concluded that Kraynak knowingly prescribed controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose. Brann, in prior rulings, noted that the evidence against Kraynak presented at trial was substantial.
Kraynak operated Keystone Family Medicine Associates in Mount Carmel and Shamokin until his 2017 arrest, after which the Pennsylvania Board of Osteopathic Medicine suspended his medical license.
Source: PennLive
