Judge Sets Final NECC Trial Date

By  Walter F. Roche Jr.

A federal judge has set a March trial date for the nine remaining defendants in a case triggered by a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak caused by a rogue Massachusetts drug compounding firm.
U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns today set March 16 as the date the trial will begin, with opening arguments scheduled for March 20.
The order comes just days before one of the two main defendants in the case is scheduled to be sentenced following his conviction on racketeering and mail fraud charges. Glenn Chin, who was a supervisory pharmacist at the New England Compounding Center, will appear before Stearns on Tuesday.
In a series of orders issued today Stearns told attorneys for the nine remaining defendants to be prepared to make opening arguments on March 20. He also set deadlines for both sides to submit lists of proposed witnesses and other data by March 8.
He set Feb. 15 as the date for a final pre-trial conference.
The nine were among 14 persons connected to NECC to be indicted in late 2014 following a two year criminal probe of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak. Caused by fungus laden spinal steroids, the outbreak sickened some 778 patients across the country, killing at least 76 of them.
Chin and Barry J. Cadden, the two primary defendants, already have been convicted on racketeering and mail fraud charges, but two separate juries concluded that there was not sufficient evidence to convict them on 25 counts of second degree murder.
Cadden already has begun serving a nine-year sentence at a federal prison in western Pennsylvania.
Those now scheduled for trial in March are Gregory Conigliaro, Gene Svirsky, Christopher M. Leary, Joseph Evanosky, Scott Connolly, Alla Stepanets, Kathy Chin, Michelle Thomas and Sharon Carter. Conigliaro was an NECC vice president and part owner. The others held various positions at NECC.
Two of the original 14 defendants, Carla and Douglas Conigliaro, entered guilty pleas to vastly reduced charges. They were fined and placed on probation with no prison sentences.
Robert Ronzio, an NECC salesman, has entered a guilty plea and is awaiting sentencing. He already has testified as a witness for the prosecution.
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