The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today overturned parts of the convictions of two Mobile doctors who were prosecuted in 2017 for running a “pill mill.”

The decision overturned convictions for Xiulu Ruan and John Couch for unlawfully dispensing controlled substances.

But the court kept the two doctor’s convictions for conspiring to violate the Controlled Substances Act, commit racketeering and accept kickbacks.

As Reuters reported, prosecutors must now decide whether to retry Ruan and Couch or move to resentencing on their remaining convictions.

Prosecutors in Mobile said Couch and Ruan, at their Physician’s Pain Specialists of Alabama (PPSA) clinics, violated any standard of reasonable medical conduct in pursuing financial gain in prescribing opioids. The two doctors were convicted on charges that included money laundering, mail and wire fraud and even a violation of the RICO organized crime statute.

Couch and Ruan drew sentences of 20 and 21 years, respectively.

The appeals court ruling was in line with a 2022 decision by the nation’s high court. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out Couch’s conviction and sided with Ruan, sending the cases back to be reconsidered.

In today’s 18-page opinion, the appeals court found the jury was wrongly instructed on how to determine the doctors’ guilt.

Ruan had argued that prosecutors were required to prove whether the doctors prescribed controlled substances for a “legitimate medical purpose.”