FLINT, MI -- Flint water prosecutors have filed new court motions aimed at putting their criminal cases against nine government officials, including former Gov. Rick Snyder, back on course.
Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy filed motions in Genesee County courts on Friday, July 1, seeking to comply with a state Supreme Court ruling that says state law does not authorize one-person grand juries to file criminal indictments directly.
“The Supreme Court did not question the merit of our cases, nor evaluate the evidence in these proceedings,” Hammoud said in a statement issued by the state Office of Attorney General. “Judge (David) Newblatt, serving as the one-man grand juror, relied on a decades-long process to evaluate substantial evidence presented in these cases and issued indictments based on that evidence.
“The opinion issued by the Court outlined new rules regarding the process related to Michigan’s one-man grand jury statute and these motions comply with those rules. We are confident that the evidence in these cases supports the charges and look forward to proving that in court,” Hammoud’s statement says.
Attorneys for Snyder had announced after the Supreme Court decision on Tuesday, June 28, that they would move to dismiss two Flint water criminal charges pending against their client, but Friday’s filings by the attorney general show they will face a fight before that happens.
Snyder and eight other current and former city of Flint and state of Michigan employees were indicted for crimes related to the water crisis in January 2021. Newblatt acted as a one-man grand jury in the prosecutions, but the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling says that while he had the authority to investigate and issue subpoenas, he did not have the authority to indict.
The Supreme Court decision reversed earlier rulings by Genesee Circuit Judge Elizabeth Kelly, who had ruled state law allowed Newblatt to indict the defendants and that their cases could proceed to trial without preliminary examinations in district court.
The motions filed by Hammoud and Worthy ask that those individuals charged with water crisis felonies have their cases sent from circuit court to district court for preliminary exams to comply with the Supreme Court’s opinion.
Motions for two cases in which individuals were charged with misdemeanors -- Snyder and former Flint Department of Public Works Director Howard Croft -- inform the court that prosecutions should continue in the same way as cases in which a formal complaint has been filed.
“These motions confirm our commitment to keep fighting for the people of Flint,” Worthy said in a statement. “As prosecutors, it is our duty to pursue all available means to secure justice for the people we serve, and I am committed to seeing this prosecution through to its conclusion.”
In addition to Snyder and Croft, those charged in the case are Snyder’s former senior advisor Richard Baird, former Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon, former Chief Medical Officer Dr. Eden Wells, two former Flint emergency financial managers -- Darnell Earley and Gerald Ambrose, former Snyder Chief of Staff and Communications Director Jarrod Agen, and Nancy Peeler, who served as director of the MDHHS Program for Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting.
Read more at The Flint Journal:
Judge had no power to indict in Flint water crisis cases, Michigan Supreme Court rules
What does Michigan Supreme Court’s Flint water ruling mean for ex-Gov. Snyder?
Carnival kicks off holiday weekend of events at Flint Water Fest
Ad Choices