The doctor charged with illegally prescribing generic Prozac via the Internet to a Stanford University student who later killed himself was refused a bail reduction yesterday, a decision that doesn’t impact the suspended physician’s out-of-custody status but leaves him on the hook for a $100,000 bail bond.

In a separate civil court hearing, Dr. Christian Ellis Hageseth, 67, was denied an injunction against his prosecution.

Hageseth has been out of custody for most of his legal battle over the online prescription but yesterday via his defense team asked Judge Cliff Cretan to switch his status to release on his own recognizance. Hageseth is not a flight risk, according to his attorneys.

The amount is itself substantially lower than the initial $500,000 arrest warrant on which he was apprehended and extradited. The bond was lowered repeatedly by judges since.

Hageseth, of Colorado, is scheduled for jury trial Feb. 9 on a single felony charge of practicing medicine without a license in the state of California. His defense team has consistently argued he cannot be prosecuted because he never physically set foot in the state when he prescribed fluoxetine for John McKay more than four years ago.

As the prosecution drags out — his jury trial date has been moved several times — the case continues drawing attention from those who believe it breaks new ground in Internet law and commerce that travels over state lines via cyberspace.

In June 2005, John McKay, of Menlo Park, purchased 90 capsules of generic Prozac by credit card at the online pharmacy site USAnewRX.com which was signed off on by Hageseth in Colorado and shipped from the Mississippi-based Gruich Pharmacy Shoppe. McKay submitted a medical questionnaire before Hageseth’s prescription in which he claimed to have received the drug before. At the time of McKay’s online purchase, Hageseth was not allowed to fill prescriptions because he had a restricted medical license for an unrelated relationship with a patient he later married. He had since been reinstated but was again suspended.

McKay committed suicide that August and prosecutors charged Hageseth the following May.

The defense has long held Hageseth cannot be tried for practicing medicine in California if he personally was in another state but prosecutor Jenny Ow argues he was here in essence through the Internet. The defense also maintains there is no certainty McKay placed the order from California.

A state appeals court ultimately ruled that Hageseth can be prosecuted in this state and local prosecutors expected him to voluntarily surrender. Instead, in October 2007, Sidney, Neb. police stopped him for allegedly speeding and learned of the outstanding arrest warrant.

In September, Hageseth filed a civil rights lawsuit against Ow and San Mateo County District Attorney Jim Fox. The injunction hearing yesterday sought to halt criminal proceedings pending the outcome of the case but Judge Quentin Kopp denied it, arguing there was no likelihood of success.

Michelle Durand can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102.