FAIRBANKS -- The Alaska Court of Appeals said it will not grant a new sentencing hearing for a former Fairbanks doctor convicted of trading prescription drugs for sexual favors.

Stephen W. Grandstaff is serving 19 years. Three women testified at his trial that Grandstaff got them hooked on the drugs in the late 1990s; a fourth woman who was believed to be a victim died of an overdose in 1999.

The 48-year-old's attorneys argued that his sentence was based in part on an aggravating factor -- the amount of drugs involved -- and that the factor should have been determined by a jury, not a judge.

The News-Miner reported that the appeals court denied his motion for a new sentencing. The court said that even if the aggravating factor was not taken into account, the judge could have come up with the same sentence.