An Oakmont doctor who was convicted more than two years ago of 153 counts of illegally doling out OxyContin in exchange for sexual favors will take one more shot at beating the charges.

That chance will not come from the U.S. Supreme Court, which yesterday denied a petition from Dr. Bernard Rottschaefer asking the court to hear his case on appeal.

Instead, Dr. Rottschaefer's lawyers have filed a third motion for a new trial in U.S. District Court -- the last was rejected back in January 2005 -- claiming that they again have newly discovered evidence that could have changed the outcome of his trial.

This time, the evidence is testimony in a civil malpractice case against Dr. Rottschaefer in which the women he allegedly victimized all said they had various ailments that the OxyContin helped to treat.

That contradicts the prosecution's theory in the criminal case, in which it claimed that Dr. Rottschaefer prescribed the powerful pain medication to those women with "no legitimate medical purpose," said defense attorney Eli Stutsman.

In hundreds of pages of depositions given by the five women, they admit that parts of their testimony against Dr. Rottschaefer in his criminal trial were falsified.

Mr. Stutsman called the fact that all of the women changed their stories "extraordinary."

He hopes to use the new information in the depositions, as well as letters that were written by one of the women to her boyfriend while she was incarcerated, to prove "a comprehensive scheme to tell a lie to get a better deal" in their own criminal cases.

U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan declined to comment.

Dr. Rottschaefer was convicted in March 2004 of 153 counts -- though he was acquitted of 55 more -- and was sentenced in September of that year to 6¹/₂ years in prison. He has yet to serve any time, though, while his case continues in appeals.

Four of the five women testified at Dr. Rottschaefer's trial that they were drug addicts and had no medical need for the prescriptions they were given. But now, Mr. Stutsman said, that story has changed.

"Every complaining witness lied under oath in Dr. Rottschaefer's prosecution," he wrote. "The false testimony went to the heart of the case: whether the prescriptions were issued for medical treatment or as drug dealing."

In their depositions, the women listed ailments that were treated by the OxyContin, including migraines and a fractured tailbone.