Chin Seeks Reversal and Acquittal

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The pharmacist convicted of racketeering and mail fraud in the wake of a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak is asking a judge to throw out the jury verdict and acquit him of the charges.
In a nine-page filing in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass., Glenn A. Chin said the fact that the jury found him not guilty on second degree murder charges undermines all the remaining racketeering and mail fraud charges.
"Without the second degree murder racketeering charges this case is even farther afield from RICO (racketeering) than where it started," the filing by Stephen J. Weymouth, Chin's attorney, states.
Adding that "constitutional concerns" were heightened by the "jury's acquittal" on 25 second degree murder charges, the motion states that Chin had no way of knowing that the conduct he was engaging in could lead to a racketeering charge.
"The RICO (racketeering) charge is unconstitutionally vague as to Chin on an alleged mail fraud scheme," the motion continues. "Chin was not - and could not have been - aware that the New England Compounding Center's (NECC's) compounding drugs, even if deficient, could amount to racketeering."
The motion states that restrictions have been set on similar charges "to prevent the government from targeting individuals based on personal bias or public pressure.. just as the government did here."
In addition, the motion states that the government presented no evidence, explicit or implicit, that Chin conspired with five of the codefendants.
As to the charge he conspired with co-defendant Barry J. Cadden, NECC's president, the motion states that Chin simply followed Cadden's instructions in order to keep his job.
"Throughout his employment Chin followed the directives and practices taught to him by Cadden. Cadden closely controlled the details of the operation," the brief states.
Finally the motion argues that any charges relating to one lot of drugs produced at NECC in May of 2012 should be tossed because the government never proved the lot was contaminated or that anyone was sickened from it.
The 2014 indictment of Chin and Cadden followed a two year grand jury probe of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak which sickened some 778 patients, killing 76 of them. The outbreak was blamed on vials of spinal steroids shipped by NECC while loaded with deadly fungi.
Cadden already is serving a nine-year prison sentence while Chin is scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 30 before U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns.
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