Judges upheld a lower court order dismissing charges against two Flint water crisis defendants. It’s the latest setback in Michigan Attorney Dana Nessel’s efforts to hold state government officials accountable. Prosecutors vow to appeal.
Snyder’s is the latest of eight dismissals in the Flint criminal case, after the Michigan Supreme Court rejected the legal path Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office used to secure indictments.
Prosecutors in the Michigan Attorney General’s office say they will argue a circuit court judge erred when she dismissed criminal charges against seven former public officials.
Seventh Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Kelly dropped felony charges against seven former government officials tied to the Flint water crisis on Tuesday.
The Michigan Supreme Court unanimously rejected the use of a one-judge grand jury by Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office to indict the ex-governor and other Flint water crisis defendants. Snyder’s lawyers blasted prosecutors as “vindictive.”
U.S. District Court Judge Judith E. Levy denied motions to stop subpoenas for Snyder and four other government officials in a civil lawsuit. The former officials wanted to assert their right to remain silent given their pending criminal cases.
Michigan is unique among states in giving broad powers to one-judge grand juries that operate behind closed and can keep evidence from defendants. Snyder is due back in court Tuesday and still doesn’t know the evidence against him.
Years after a cost-cutting move resulted in lead-poisoned drinking water in Flint, residents said they are furious that the governor who placed their city under emergency control won’t face more serious charges.
Seven years after a fateful water switch, the former governor faces two misdemeanors, while others including former health director Nick Lyon were charged with several felonies.
Prosecutors are expected to bring new charges Thursday against a host of public officials in the poisoning of Flint. Residents welcome the charges, but attorneys call the case a ‘debacle’ and ‘trial by ambush.’
The grant, approved in lame duck, was intended to boost prospects for a commercial space program in Michigan. But the venture lacked detail and was derided by an expert as a “back of the napkin” plan.
The departing governor took a different path from Scott Walker in Wisconsin, rejecting bills to shield dark money and make it easier for the legislature to enter lawsuits.
The term-limited Republican governor said he agreed with the GOP Legislature that the original laws passed earlier this year would harm economic progress in Michigan. Advocates for workers vowed a lawsuit.
Republican Rick Snyder is the wild card in a full deck of GOP measures to rein in Democrats entering office, rollback environmental laws and other measures that drive progressives crazy. Will it impact his legacy?
