Fisher, along with the Millers, pled innocent to the charges last Wednesday in Shasta County Superior Court. There, Judge James Ruggiero banned courtroom observers from wearing "Guilty of Caring" T-shirts and buttons that showed support for Fisher's cause.

According to the state press release, at the time of Fisher's arrest Shasta Pharmacy became the nation's top wholesale buyer of oxycodone in the state, and the 10th largest purchaser in the nation.

But in a March 3 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Fisher said he ran a legitimate medical practice that treated "intractable pain" suffered by a mostly low-income clientele.

Fisher's arrest, however, has left a large number of former patients who become dependant on the oxycodone prescriptions. As a result, the county has established a hotline for Fisher's former patients to find new physicians.

--Wire dispatches were used in the reporting of this story.