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Nick
Lyon,
director
of the
Michigan
Department
of
Health
and
Human
Services,
listens
closely
as
Genesee
District
Judge
David J.
Goggins
gives
his
decision
during
Lyon's
preliminary
examination
on
Monday,
Aug. 20,
2018 at
Genesee
District
Court
inin
Flint,
Mich.
Goggins
ordered
Lyons to
stand
trial
for
involuntary
manslaughter
in two
deaths
linked
to
Legionnaires'
disease
in the
Flint
area,
the
highest
ranking
official
to stand
trial as
a result
of the
tainted
water
scandal.
(Jake
May/The
Flint
Journal
via AP) |
|
Michigan
official
faces
manslaughter
trial
over
Flint
deaths
By
ED WHITE
APNews.com
FLINT,
MI - A
judge on
Monday
ordered
Michigan’s
health
director
to stand
trial
for
involuntary
manslaughter
in two
deaths
linked
to
Legionnaires’
disease
in the
Flint
area,
the
highest-ranking
official
to face
criminal
charges
as a
result
of the
city’s
tainted
water
scandal.
Nick
Lyon is
accused
of
failing
to issue
a timely
alert
about
the
outbreak.
District
Court
Judge
David
Goggins
said
deaths
likely
could
have
been
prevented
if the
outbreak
had been
publicly
known.
He said
keeping
the
public
in the
dark was
“corrupt.”
Goggins
found
probable
cause
for a
trial in
Genesee
County
court, a
legal
standard
that
isn’t as
high as
beyond a
reasonable
doubt.
Lyon
also
faces a
charge
of
misconduct
in
office.
When
the
judge
announced
his
decision,
a woman
in the
gallery
said,
“Yes,
yes,
yes.”
“It’s a
long way
from
over,”
Lyon
told The
Associated
Press.
He
declined
further
comment.
Some
experts
have
blamed
Legionnaires’
on
Flint’s
water,
which
wasn’t
properly
treated
when it
was
drawn
from the
Flint
River in
2014 and
2015.
Legionella
bacteria
can
emerge
through
misting
and
cooling
systems,
triggering
a severe
form of
pneumonia,
especially
in
people
with
weakened
immune
systems.
At
least 90
cases of
Legionnaires’
occurred
in
Genesee
County,
including
12
deaths.
More
than
half of
the
people
had a
common
thread:
They
spent
time at
McLaren
Hospital,
which
was on
the
Flint
water
system.
The
outbreak
was
announced
by Gov.
Rick
Snyder
and Lyon
in
January
2016,
although
Lyon
concedes
that he
knew
that
cases
were
being
reported
many
months
earlier.
He is
director
of the
Health
and
Human
Services
Department.
Nonetheless,
he
denies
wrongdoing.
Lyon’s
attorneys
said
there
was much
speculation
about
the
exact
cause of
Legionnaires’
and not
enough
solid
information
to share
earlier
with the
public.
The
investigation
by the
state
attorney
general’s
office
is part
of a
larger
probe
into how
Flint’s
water
system
became
contaminated
when the
city
used
Flint
River
water
for 18
months.
The
water
wasn’t
treated
to
reduce
corrosion.
As a
result,
lead
leached
from old
pipes.
An
additional
14
current
or
former
state
and
local
officials
have
been
charged
with
crimes,
either
related
to
Legionnaires’
or lead
in the
water.
Four
agreed
to
misdemeanor
plea
deals;
the
other
cases
are
moving
slowly.
“Normally
we don’t
see
government
officials
accused
of
manslaughter
based on
what
they
didn’t
do,”
said
Peter
Henning,
a
professor
at Wayne
State
University
law
school
in
Detroit.
“That
does
make it
an
unusual
case,
and it
will
make
government
officials
be much
more
cautious.
Maybe
that’s
the
message
here.”
Defense
attorney
John
Bursch
said the
judge’s
decision
was
“mystifying.”
Goggins
spent
more
than two
hours
summarizing
evidence
from
weeks of
testimony,
but he
didn’t
specifically
explain
what
swayed
him to
send
Lyon to
trial.
“We
had 20
pages of
argument
in our
legal
brief
that he
didn’t
address,”
Bursch
said
outside
court.
“He
didn’t
talk
about
the law
at all.”
A
trial
would be
many
months
away
after
Snyder’s
term as
governor
ends on
Jan. 1.
He said
Lyon
“has my
full
faith
and
confidence”
and will
remain
as
Michigan’s
health
director.
A
courtroom
spectator,
Karina
Petri,
30, of
Milwaukee
said
sending
a senior
official
to trial
is “long
overdue.”
“He
withheld
the
truth.
There’s
no
excuse,”
said
Petri,
who wore
a “Flint
Lives
Matter”
shirt.
“He
could
have
changed
hundreds
of
lives.”
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