April 2016 Trial Date Set for Meningitis Outbreak Defendants

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Victims of the 2012 nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak apparently will have to wait another 10 months before those charged with causing the outbreak are brought to trial.
The hundreds of victims of the fatal outbreak received notice this week that an April 4, 2016 trial date has been set in the case.
In an indictment made public late last year 14 officers, employees and owners of the New England Compounding Center were charged with crimes ranging from mail fraud to second degree murder following a lengthy grand jury probe of the outbreak.
Two of the defendants, Barry Cadden and Glen Chin, were each charged with 25 counts of second degree murder. All the defendants have entered not guilty pleas.
Earlier this month federal agents seized a boat and a car from Cadden, who lives in the Boston suburbs.
The NECC criminal cases have been assigned to U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns .
Though the criminal trial may not get underway till next year, victims of the outbreak may get some financial relief before the end of the year as a result of NECC's  recently resolved bankruptcy case. More than $200 million is expected to be available to victims and a limited number of creditors.
Paul Moore, the trustee in the NECC bankruptcy, has stated that he is hopeful victims can begin collecting their shares of the victims' fund before the end of the calendar year.