Key decision next in Michigan health chief’s criminal case
FLINT, Mich. (AP) – A judge plans to hear arguments and decide whether Michigan’s health director will face trial in the deaths of two men during a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak amid Flint’s water crisis.
The attorney general’s office says Nick Lyon failed to timely alert the public about the outbreak. Some experts have blamed Legionnaires’ on Flint’s water, which wasn’t properly treated when it was pulled from the Flint River in 2014 and 2015.
Judge David Goggins is expected to announce Wednesday whether there’s enough evidence to send Lyon to trial on involuntary manslaughter charges. The judge has been sporadically hearing testimony since last fall.
Nick Lyon, left, director of Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, listens to defense attorney John Bursch as he delivers his closing argument during Lyon’s preliminary examination on Wednesday, July 11, 2018, at Genesee County District Court in Flint, Mich. The head of Michigan’s health department, Lyon, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and other crimes. He’s accused of not timely alerting the public about a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in the Flint area in 2014 and 2015. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
Lyon denies wrongdoing. His lawyers say it would be a “grave mistake” to keep the case alive and “dangerously chill” all Michigan public employees.
FILE – In this Nov. 15, 2017 file photo, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon, center, talks with his lawyers Larry Willey, second from left, and Chip Chamberlain, right, during his preliminary examination in Genesee County District Court in Flint, Mich. New accounting figures show Michigan has spent nearly $25 million on attorneys handling cases involving the Flint lead-tainted water crisis that began in 2014. (Terray Sylvester/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)
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