WICHITA, Kan. (AP) _ Lawyers for a Haysville doctor facing a 34-count federal indictment say prosecutors "commandeered'' the Kansas Board of Healing Arts.

Attorneys for Dr. Stephen Schneider claim federal prosecutors in Wichita improperly asserted authority over the regulation of medicine. The defense filed court documents contending the prosecution is an abuse of the criminal process.

A federal indictment links the Haysville clinic owned by Schneider and his wife to the accidental overdose deaths of 56 patients. The doctor and his wife are charged with directly causing four deaths.

The director of the state medical board declined to comment on the defense claims.

The board suspended Schneider's medical license and scheduled a hearing in November on whether his license should be revoked.

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