Prosecutors Fadwa Hammoud and Kym Worthy chose that path in the Flint water probe to hear evidence in secret and get indictments against Snyder and others.īut the state Supreme Court said Michigan law is clear: A one-judge grand jury can’t issue indictments. A one-judge grand jury was extremely rare and had mostly been used in Detroit and Flint to protect witnesses, especially in violent crimes, who could testify in private. Prosecutors in Michigan typically file felony charges in District Court after a police investigation. The deadline, however, would be longer for charges faced by Lyon and Wells. Michigan’s six-year statute of limitations could be a problem in some cases if the attorney general’s office wants to file charges again. 26.īesides Lyon and Wells, charges were dismissed against Snyder’s longtime fixer in state government, Rich Baird former senior aide Jarrod Agen former Flint managers Gerald Ambrose and Darnell Earley and Nancy Peeler, a former health department manager. But he, too, was indicted in a process declared invalid by the Supreme Court. That’s only because he was charged with two misdemeanors - willful neglect of duty - and his case is being handled by another judge. Kelly’s decision doesn’t affect former Republican Gov. Simply put, there are no valid charges,” Kelly said. “Anything arising out of the invalid indictments are irreconcilably tainted from inception. It was a last-gasp effort to keep things afloat. Judge Elizabeth Kelly rejected efforts by the attorney general’s office to just send the cases to Flint District Court and turn them into criminal complaints, a typical path to filing felony charges in Michigan. The dismissal was significant but not a complete surprise after the Michigan Supreme Court in June said a different judge acting as a one-person grand jury had no authority to issue indictments. A Michigan judge threw out felony charges Tuesday against seven people in the Flint water scandal, including two former state health officials blamed for deaths from Legionnaires’ disease.
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