Rowland Heights Doctor Ordered To Stand Trial On Murder Charges

UPDATE 2:47 p.m.: Rowland Heights doctor Hsiu-Ying "Lisa" Tseng was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on murder and other charges stemming from the prescription-drug-overdose deaths of three men.

The following is from an earlier version of this story.

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Attorneys for a Rowland Heights doctor accused of murder in the death of three male patients told a judge Tuesday that all charges against her should be dismissed.

KNX 1070's John Brooks reports Hsiu-Ying "Lisa" Tseng faces 20 felony counts of fraud and prescribing medication without a legitimate purpose.

Attorneys for Tseng were at the Criminal Courts Building in downtown to ask for the second-degree murder charges and numerous violations of the state health and safety code to be dropped, citing the victims' failure to disclose their addictions to other drugs.

Three patients — whom prosecutors said were all healthy males — died of overdoses under the care of Tseng between March 2009 and December 2009.: Vu Nguyen and Steven Ogle, both 25, and Joseph Rovero III, 21.

Arizona State University student Joey Rovero was one of those patients: he was found dead nine days after he paid cash for a prescription of Oxycodone, Xanax, and Alprazolam.

Members of the group "Operation Pills Can Kill" were in the courtroom on Tuesday and are hopeful the judge will hold Tseng over for trial.

"She was a murderer, she's killed a lot of kids and she's destroyed many, many families," said one member.

Tseng could face up to 45 years in prison if she goes to trial and is convicted. She is currently being held at $3 million bail.