Massive Booker break for doctors

As detailed in news reports here and here, a “federal judge on Monday slashed prison sentences for three former doctors from a now-closed Myrtle Beach pain clinic where federal prosecutors say drugs were illegally prescribed.”  The sentences for two of these doctors were reduced from roughly 20 years to only two years, marking the largest Booker breaks I have seen. 

The press accounts indicate the district judge justified the reduced sentenced by saying the doctors were different from most drug dealers and were no threat to society after having lost their medical licences.  If prosecutors pursue an appeal, the size of the reductions should make this case an interesting test for the limits of Booker discretion.