Wichita ? A federal judge Wednesday rejected a defense bid seeking acquittal for a Kansas doctor and his wife whose clinic is tied to 68 patient overdose deaths.

U.S. District Judge Monti Belot ruled that there was sufficient evidence to support last week’s convictions on conspiracy, unlawful distribution of drugs, health care fraud and money laundering charges against Dr. Stephen Schneider and his wife, Linda. Jurors deliberated for seven days.

The Schneiders each face up to a life sentence, with multiple mandatory minimum sentences of 20 years.

In a separate ruling later Wednesday, Belot also rejected a defense request to release the Schneiders from custody pending sentencing. Belot said it was unlikely they would win on appeal. He also ruled the defense failed to prove the couple would not be a flight risk.

In their motion for acquittal, the Schneiders argued that they shouldn’t have been found guilty of conspiracy to commit health care fraud because there was no evidence of an agreement between them and the government failed to provide sufficient evidence of unlawful conduct. The judge disagreed.

Belot said trial evidence showed the Schneiders opened a clinic and provided pain management services to more than 5,000 patients. They instructed their staff on the charges for those visits regardless of the level of service provided. Linda Schneider instructed staff to falsify charts. Belot said there was sufficient evidence to show the clinic consistently billed for services not provided and fraudulently charged more for the majority of claims billed.