Kansas City, Mo ? A mother who mowed her large lawn at the age of 82 and loved sports. A sister who moved home to care for an aging mother. A wife who started a small business and died nine weeks before her first grandchild was born.

The victims of Robert R. Courtney’s drug dilution scheme, who for nearly two years were known only by code names such as “Patient G-1” in legal filings, became achingly human Thursday during testimony at Courtney’s sentencing hearing.

For nearly 2 1/2 hours, a packed courtroom heard tearful and sometimes angry testimony from victims or survivors of Courtney’s decision to dilute chemotherapy drugs for profit.

After the testimony, a federal judge sentenced Courtney to 30 years in prison, fined him $25,000 and ordered him to pay $10.4 million in restitution to his victims. His pharmacy, Courtney Pharmacy Inc., was fined $1 and ordered to pay the $10.4 million in restitution jointly with Courtney.

A shaken and subdued Courtney apologized repeatedly for his crimes in a brief statement.

“I have committed a terrible crime that I deeply and severely regret,” Courtney said. “I wish I could change everything.

“To my victims and their precious families, I apologize that I brought so much grief and anguish to them.”

Courtney also apologized to his family, who sobbed during his statement and when his sentence was pronounced. The family declined comment after the hearing.

Shirley Thompson of Kansas City, Mo., displays pictures of her brother, Ross Martin, outside the federal courthouse, where former pharmacist Robert Courtney was sentenced to 30 years in prison for diluting cancer drugs for profit. Ross Martin, who died of cancer, had received drugs from Courtney's pharmacy.

Victims’ testimony

While those who testified Thursday called Courtney cold, heartless, “a monster in a white coat” and a murderer, they spent most of their time telling U.S. District Judge Ortrie Smith about their loved ones, or about how their families had been affected by their cancer treatments.

Brenda Fee said she promised her mother-in-law, Margaret Fee, she would testify at the hearing because she wanted people to know Margaret was “a real person, not just a statistic.”

Fee said she called Margaret “Mom” instead of mother-in-law because she was such a good friend. She said Margaret Fee took great pleasure in her only son and his family, and suffered horribly after finding out about Courtney’s scheme just months before she died.

“She would cry and ask ‘What did I do to deserve this?”‘ Fee said. “All we could say is ‘We don’t know, Mom, no one knows.”‘

Another victim, Georgia Hayes, talked about trying to help her daughter understand Courtney’s actions. She said her husband could not attend the hearing because he could not bear to be in the same room with Courtney.

Hayes, who earlier won a $2.2 billion civil award against Courtney, said she had overcome her hatred of the pharmacist. It is unlikely she will receive any of the civil award.

“I leave Robert Courtney in your hands for his lifetime, and in the Lord’s hands for eternity,” she told Smith. “May God have mercy on his soul.”

‘Cold-blooded’ crime

Defense lawyers, citing Courtney’s “sincere remorse” and acceptance of responsibility, urged Smith to impose the lightest possible sentence under the terms of Courtney’s plea agreement — 17 1/2 years without parole.

Federal prosecutors asked for the maximum of 30 years for a “cold-blooded” crime they say hastened at least one patient’s death. Prosecutors have acknowledged it would be very difficult to prove in court that Courtney’s crimes killed patients.

In handing down the maximum sentence possible, an emotional Smith said he felt great sympathy for Courtney’s family, but brushed aside Courtney’s request for a lighter sentence.

“Mr. Courtney, your crimes are a shock to the civilized conscience,” the judge said. “They are beyond understanding. I believe you when you say that you don’t understand them.”

Appeal possible

Defense attorney J.R. Hobbs said Courtney was disappointed and would begin working through several issues before deciding whether to file an appeal.

U.S. Atty. Todd P. Graves said the verdict was too little and too late for most of Courtney’s victims, but he was pleased the judge imposed the maximum sentence.

Courtney, 50, pleaded guilty in February to 20 counts of adulterating, misbranding and tampering with the cancer drugs Taxol and Gemzar. Those counts stem from his dilution of 158 chemotherapy doses he prepared at his Research Medical Tower Pharmacy for 34 patients of a Kansas City doctor from March 2001 through June 2001.

But Courtney admitted in his plea agreement he had been diluting drugs since 1992, affecting as many as 4,200 patients, 400 doctors and 98,000 prescriptions.

Courtney said he diluted the drugs to make money. Federal authorities said he could pocket $780 on a single dose of Gemzar, for example, by putting only a small fraction of the prescribed amount into an intravenous solution.

In a written statement to prosecutors in August 2001, Courtney cited pressure to pay a $600,000 tax bill and the final one-third of a $1 million pledge to his church as a reason for diluting the drugs.