Judge Pleased With Pace of Chin Trial

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

BOSTON - The federal judge presiding over the racketeering and second degree murder trial of the former supervising pharmacist at a company blamed for a deadly meningitis outbreak said Tuesday that he was pleased with the pace of the trial and it might end sooner than he had predicted.
U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns told jurors just before he dismissed them for the day that he was pleased with the way the trial was proceeding.
He praised lawyers for moving the case along and told jurors that his original estimate - that the trial would last six to seven weeks - might be revised.
Under his original prediction the trial could go into early November but a revised estimate could bring the case to an end late this month.
Stearns comments to the 12 jurors and three alternates followed by a day comments he made to the attorneys on the case after the jurors had gone home. On Monday he praised the attorneys, particularly prosecutors, for the way they have been presenting the case.
In the earlier trial of co-defendant Barry J. Cadden, Stearns, during a bench conference was critical of the way the case was being presented. He told the attorneys both he and jurors were frustrated by the repetitious presentation, according to a transcript released after the 10 week trial had ended.
Prior to opening arguments in the Chin case, Stearns imposed time limits on both the prosecution and defense teams.
Cadden and Chin were among 14 indicted in late 2014 following a two year federal probe of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak. Cadden was given a nine-year prison sentence following his conviction of racketeering and mail fraud charges.
Cadden was the president and part owner of the New England Compounding Center, while Chin was a supervising pharmacist. NECC shipped thousands of vials of contaminated drugs to health facilities across the country sickening 778 patients, including 76 who died.
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