Second NECC Defendant Seeks Home Detention Release

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A second key defendant in the criminal case stemming from a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak is asking a judge to release him from 24-hour detention in his Canton, Mass. home.
The attorney for Glenn Chin, chief pharmacist for the New England Compounding Center, has asked that he be placed on a curfew allowing him to leave his home from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The request comes as a federal judge turned down an appeal by federal prosecutors seeking to have co-defendant Barry Cadden placed back on 24-hour a day detention in his Wrentham, Mass. home.
Like Cadden, Chin is facing charges of 25 counts of second degree murder for his role in the outbreak which claimed the lives of 77 patients across the country.
Chin and Cadden played key roles at the New England Compounding Center, the defunct company blamed for the fungal meningitis outbreak.
In the petition, Chin's lawyer argued that his client was not a risk for flight and noted he has a wife and two children.
He said that Chin, like Cadden, would remain under constant GPS monitoring and his bail would remain unchanged.
Chin was arrested in Sept. 2014 as he was about to board a plane for China. While prosecutors contended that Chin might be fleeing prosecution, his lawyer said he was simply going to attend a family event in China.
"He has never been a flight risk or posed a threat to any person in the community," the petition states.
The filing notes that Magistrate Judge Jennifer Boal previously rejected a motion by prosecutors to have Chin jailed pending his trial on the second degree murder and related charges.
Cadden's recent release from home detention prompted a protest from victims of the outbreak who wrote letters opposing the request.
Earlier this week U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns denied an appeal by prosecutors to overturn Boal's decision to allow Cadden, a founder and part owner of NECC to leave his home for 12 hours a day to meet with his lawyers and tend to family chores.
Calling the 24-hour detention "onerous," Chin's lawyer said it was "unnecessary to assure his appearance at trial."
He noted that his client had previously been allowed by the court to go to Florida and no problems were reported.
Cadden and Chin are scheduled to go on trial on Jan. 5, 2017.
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